SUPPLIED PHOTO The foundation of wind turbine station awaits a concrete pour at the site of the Capital Power Whitla Windfarm, south of Bow Island in May 2019. The company stated on Wednesday, May 29, that tower sections for the massive turbines should begin arriving in Foremost by rail this week and an onsite concrete plant will begin fill the rebar sections soon.
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Construction on the $325-million Capital Power Whitla wind farm is ready to ramp up, officials with the Edmonton-based company told the News on Wednesday.
The first of more than a 100 rail cars carrying major components and tower sections will begin arriving in southeastern Alberta this week, and some of the massive underground ballasts that secure them are ready for concrete pour.
That’s right on schedule, said Jerry Bellikka, Capital Power’s director of governmental relations.
“It’s looking great, and I’ll tell you that it’s getting pretty tough to find a hotel room in Bow Island right now,” he joked.
The project will see 56 turbines go up in an area east of Forty Mile Reservoir over the next six months.
The equipment will be brought to Foremost via the Forty Mile Rail system, then staged there at a laydown yard completed last fall.
Foremost Mayor Lorne Buis told the Alberta Newspaper Group this week that the higher level of activity is noticeable.
“The hardware store, the tire shop, the welding shop and the store have already benefited, because there’s already 10 men here now working on site, but there’s probably another 15 or 16 coming in to work with the cranes and trucking part of it,” said Buis, of the operations in the village. “The town itself is going to benefit from it,” he told the Cypress Courier newspaper.
About 140 workers are currently on various sites of the facility that is spread over 33,000 acres about 15 kilometres south of Bow Island. Bellikka said the number should rise above 300 once construction hits full stride, laying underground lines, completing bases and putting up the turbines.
The project was awarded a 20-year supply contract in late 2017 to deliver power from the 200-megawatt project on to the Alberta grid when its supply price came in among the lowest among more than a dozen bids.
Site construction began last fall and as a provision on the contract it is to be in operation in late 2019.
An operations building and shop, built by GVN Structures of Redcliff, is now open, and also over the winter, gravel was stockpiled. That will be mixed by a temporary batch concrete plant in the area and up to 50 loads each will be poured in the framing for the massive underground ballasts that support each tower.
Components will be trucked north – towers, turbines and blades – as they arrive at Foremost over the coming months.
All main roads and all but a few access roads have been completed, said Bellikka.
Capital Power is managing the construction internally and has hired Rising Edge Technologies, a North American field electrical installation company that has a base in Calgary and will also complete the roads and substation. Borea Construction is handling the erection of the towers and commissioning of the facility.
“There are a lot of shipment and multiple trainloads and multiple truckloads moving (over the summer),” said Bellikka, stating the company has been conscious of local economic activity.
“There’s also been lots of gasoline supplies and food, local water hauling and gravel,” said Bellikka. “It’s been a great opportunity to engage local suppliers as much as possible.”
– with files from Jeremy Appel
