Three-Bay Walk-In Layout
HV switchroom, transformer bay and LV switchroom partitioned for segregation, each bay with its own access.
Container Substation & E-House Units: Factory-Direct Builds
- Sizes
- 20ft / 40ft + custom
- Layout
- Three-bay walk-in
- Voltage
- 400 V to 33 kV
- Weight
- 4 to 20 t fitted
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20ft (6,058 x 2,438 x 2,591 mm) and 40ft (12,192 x 2,438 x 2,591 mm) ISO-based, custom lengths 3,000 to 12,000 mm. 3 to 10 mm continuous-welded mild steel shell, 50 mm insulated panel lining, three-bay partition with per-bay access.
IEC 62271-202:2022 governs the integrated prefabricated substation package, AS 2067:2016 and IEC 61936 the installed HV system, AS/NZS 3000 the LV fit-out. The building contributes IP55 to IP56 sealing per IEC 60529 and an ISO 668 / ISO 1496 / CSC transport base.
Remote-pad power distribution on mine sites, process and site distribution for oil, gas and energy facilities, transformation and switching beside BESS on renewables, and grid-connection scopes for utilities.
Overview
Walk-in substation buildings, factory-direct
A container substation is a factory-built, walk-in substation building: transformer, MV switchgear and LV distribution housed in segregated bays inside a transportable steel enclosure. SCS Global manufactures the building factory-direct within our containerised switchrooms range, for procurement teams and EPCs specifying industrial power distribution. Builds run 20ft and 40ft ISO-based formats, shipped as standard containerised freight.
Specifications
Specifications & Configurations
Substation buildings ship in 20ft and 40ft ISO-based configurations, at fitted weights of 4 to 20 tonnes. Dimensions follow ISO 668, so every container substation travels, lifts and stacks like the freight container it shares corner castings with. Values are category envelopes, confirmed per project at design stage. Specifications conform to industry standards. Confirm to project requirements.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Base sizes | 20ft and 40ft ISO-based, custom lengths 3,000 to 12,000 mm |
| External dimensions | 20ft: 6,058 x 2,438 x 2,591 mm. 40ft: 12,192 x 2,438 x 2,591 mm. High Cube height 2,896 mm |
| Fitted weight | 4 to 20 t by size and fit-out |
| Shell | 3 to 10 mm mild steel, continuous-welded, anti-corrosion treated |
| Internal layout | Three-bay partition: HV switchroom, transformer bay, LV switchroom |
| Doors | Personnel doors to LV room, container doors to HV room, bolted transformer-compartment access, safety-switched fire doors |
| Ventilation | Natural with anti-insect grids, fan-forced option, transformer-bay louvres |
| Climate control | Air-conditioning and heating as auxiliary options |
| Insulation and flooring | 50 mm insulated panel lining, non-slip floors with vinyl finish |
| Building services | LED lighting with battery backup, emergency exit lighting, small-power outlets |
| Cable entry | Beneath or side, glanded or adaptor entry |
| Lifting and transport | Rated lifting points, ISO corner castings, forklift compatible |
| Ingress protection | IP55 to IP56 tiers per IEC 60529 |
| Cyclonic anchoring | Region D tie-down engineering available |
| Certifications | ISO 668, ISO 1496 and CSC container base |
Prefabricated
Prefabricated Substation Buildings
A prefabricated substation is built and fitted out in a controlled factory, then delivered in one piece. Industry analyses put the deployment gap at weeks from site delivery, against months for site-built. Unlike compact substations, a walk-in building gives crews internal access to switchgear in any weather: the walk-in alternative to outdoor transformer enclosures. Buyers comparing prefabricated substation manufacturers are mostly comparing integrators. SCS builds the building itself: shell fabrication and fit-out on one line in Yixing, Jiangsu, then factory pre-assembly and testing before dispatch.
E-Houses
E-House Containers
An e-house is an engineered, transportable building fitted out to house MV and LV switchgear, critical power and automation equipment, delivered to site as a pre-assembled module. The terms overlap: an e-house doesn't always include a transformer bay, yet tenders use both words for the same walk-in format and spell it several ways, e house container, e house electrical building and e house manufacturers among them, all naming the same product family and its builders. The category runs from single buildings to multi-building modular complexes. Enterprise vendors sell the integrated system and treat the building as packaging. SCS supplies the building as a factory product.
Compliance
Compliance & Standards
IEC 62271-202:2022 is the product standard for prefabricated substations above 1 kV up to 52 kV, and it attaches to the integrated, type-tested package, not the enclosure alone. AS 2067:2016 and its international counterpart IEC 61936 govern the installed high-voltage system at site, and AS/NZS 3000 the LV fit-out. The building contributes the layer underneath: structural envelope, segregated bays, IP rating per IEC 60529, ventilation, cable management, and ISO 668 / ISO 1496 / CSC transport compliance.
ISO 
Bureau Veritas 
DNV 
Lloyd's Register 
BIC 
ABS Standards & References
Standards we build against
Every substation building is engineered against the standards below. Click through to the source authority for the full text and current revision.
IEC 62271-202:2022 High-voltage prefabricated substations above 1 kV up to 52 kV: the product standard for the integrated, type-tested package. International Electrotechnical Commission
AS 2067:2016 Substations and high-voltage installations exceeding 1 kV AC: governs the installed HV system at site. Standards Australia
ISO 668 Series 1 freight container classification, dimensions and ratings: the transport base every build keeps. International Organization for Standardization
Configuration Options
Housed System & Layout Options
The housed electrical system is scoped per project. Published category menus run AIS or GIS switchgear from 400 V to 33 kV (6.6, 11 and 22 kV the standard MV classes), rated power of 315 kVA to 6,000 kVA, and single or dual feed with a bus tie, the fitted assembly suppliers elsewhere list as a package substation. A modular substation building scales past a single box through custom lengths and multi-container complexes.
Custom Lengths
3,000 mm to 12,000 mm built off the ISO frame where a standard box won't hold the equipment schedule.
Multi-Container Complexes
Joined multi-container buildings for equipment schedules beyond a single enclosure.
Permanent-Grade Siting
Unlike trailer-mounted mobile substation designs, a containerised build is permanent-grade infrastructure, set on piers or above cable pits.
Applications
Industries & Applications
Substation buildings deploy where power distribution has to arrive fast and pre-tested: mine sites, oil and gas facilities, renewable plants and utility networks.
Mining
Remote-pad power distribution built for dust, heat and cyclone regions, delivered alongside a site's wider mining infrastructure.
Oil, Gas & Energy
Process and site distribution for oil, gas and energy projects, where pre-dispatch factory testing protects the energisation date.
Renewable Energy
On solar and wind farms, BESS containers house the batteries while the substation building handles transformation and switching.
Utilities
Grid-connection and network augmentation scopes across our switchroom and electrical infrastructure range, configured to each network operator's requirements.
Send voltage class, transformer size, bay layout and destination for a factory-direct specification and price.
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Engineering Resources
Download technical documentation
Specification and drawing documents for engineering reference. Every engineering document published here has a crawlable HTML equivalent elsewhere on the page.
PDFOn request
Substation Building Spec Sheet
Specification matrix mirroring the on-page envelope table.
DownloadPDFOn request
SCS Capability Statement
Company capability statement for tender packs.
DownloadPDFOn request
GA Drawings (20ft / 40ft substation builds)
Plan, elevation and section drawings for engineering reference.
DownloadRelated Products
Explore the electrical infrastructure range
Sister products in the SCS switchroom and electrical infrastructure range, built on the same Yixing line against the same compliance baseline.
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data centre containers
BESS Containers
IP55-sealed enclosures for grid-scale batteries: deflagration venting, suppression-ready, air- or liquid-cooled thermal management.
bess containers
MCC Buildings
Dust-sealed enclosures for motor control centre assemblies: double-gasket doors, pressurisation fans, mining and process duty.
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Containerised Control Rooms
Operator rooms designed with reference to ISO 11064 principles, in two engineering tiers.
containerised control rooms
Switchroom & Electrical Compliance Guide
Which standard governs what, mapped to the layer of the build each one covers.
substation compliance standards
Containerised vs Traditional
The build-route decision in both directions, including where a site-built room is still the right call.
containerised vs traditionalFAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Three questions procurement, engineering and operations teams ask most often about containerised substations and e-houses.
What is a prefabricated substation?
A prefabricated substation is a factory-built unit housing transformer, MV switchgear and LV distribution, delivered pre-assembled and pre-tested. IEC 62271-202 defines walk-in and non-walk-in forms. Containerised substation builds are the walk-in form: segregated bays with internal access on an ISO transport-ready base.
What is an e-house?
An e-house is an engineered, transportable building that houses MV and LV switchgear, critical power and automation equipment. Suppliers build single units or multi-building complexes. The name is interchangeable with substation building, though an e-house doesn't always include a transformer bay.
What is the difference between a substation and an e-house?
The transformer defines it. A substation transforms voltage, so it carries a transformer bay beside its switchgear rooms. An e-house may house switchgear, protection and control only, with no transformation stage. The enclosure engineering is identical, so one factory platform builds both.