Construction has started on a 60-turbine, 138-megawatt wind farm near the southern Manitoba hamlet of St. Joseph, about 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
Electricity generation
Construction has started on a 60-turbine, 138-megawatt wind farm near the southern Manitoba hamlet of St. Joseph, about 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
The farm is expected to be completed and producing power by early 2011 and should cost about $345 million to build.
San Francisco-based Pattern Energy Group is building the wind farm, which is expected to provide for the hydro needs of 50,000 homes.
Colin Edwards, Pattern’s Vancouver-based senior developer (Canada), said St. Joseph is an excellent site for a wind farm.
“It’s one of the best wind resources in the country,” he said.
“The site is on a ridge and the surrounding country is flat. The wind there blows strong and in clear, predictable patterns and it changes with the seasons. It blows from the northwest in the winter and from the south in the summer.”
Because the wind is so predictable, Pattern won’t have to spend a lot of time adjusting the direction of the blades.
The energy company has taken the wind farm’s proximity to the flood-prone Red River into account, too.
“We’ll keep the electrical equipment associated with the turbines high enough above the ground that it won’t get wet in the event of a flood,” Edwards said.
The general contractor on the project is Minneapolis-based Mortenson Canada Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mortenson Construction.
The company has constructed 87 wind projects and installed more than 8,455 megawatts of wind power in North America.
Mortenson’s responsibilities include the engineering and installation of roads, foundations, electrical collection systems, high-voltage systems and the erection of 60 Siemens 2.3-megawatt turbines.
Mark Donahue, Mortenson Canada vice president and general manager, said the construction at St. Joseph takes place in a particular sequence of events: Build access roads; install foundations; and start underground collection activity.
“Once the foundations have cured, you can start erecting the turbine components and begin work on the substation,” he said.
“Finally there is tower wiring and the commissioning process for final energization.”
Rock and aggregate are needed for roads, while concrete, steel, cable and wire for electrical equipment (circuit breakers, transformers, metering devices) are also required.
The materials will be sourced both locally and internationally.
“For example, the wind turbines come from overseas,” Donahue said. “
And, the concrete, steel, wire and cable and aggregate will be sourced in Canada.”
At the peak of construction, between 200 and 225 workers will be employed on site.
Two of the three major subcontractors, for electrical installation and piling underneath foundations, are Canadian.
The first phase of piling installation began in March.
Construction will reach substantial completion by the end of November 2010.
Donahue said the biggest challenge facing the project is the condition of the soil, the notorious plastic “Manitoba gumbo” clay.
“Approximately 60 kilometres of steel pipe pile is being installed underneath the turbine foundations,” he explained.
Apart from that, he said, wind power projects are often built in remote areas and the St. Joseph project doesn’t present unusual logistical challenges.
Glenn Schneider, Manitoba Hydro’s manager of public affairs, said the utility has agreed to loan the company up to 75 percent of the project’s capital costs in order to get it up and running.
He said the loan will be paid back through Manitoba Hydro’s energy payments to Pattern.
St. Joseph project will be the second wind farm in Manitoba, as a total of 63 wind turbines have already been erected by St. Leon Wind Energy over a 93-square kilometre area, and are capable of delivering 99 megawatts.
Located just north of the U.S. border, near Manitoba Hydro’s export transmission line, the St. Joseph project site covers 165 square kilometres.
When completed, the wind farm will provide about 2.5 percent of Manitoba Hydro’s total energy capacity.
Pattern Energy owns and operates renewable energy and transmission assets across the United States, Canada and Latin America.
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