Shinish Wind Farm Transmission Line Construction

The scope of this project included the design, engineering, procurement and construction of a 35 km 34.5 kV collector line for the Shinish Creek Wind Project, which connects five (5) 3 MW Wind Turbine Generators to the BC Hydro Point-of-Interconnection (POI). An All Dielectric Self Supporting (ADSS) single mode fibre optic cable was run beneath the phase conductors. The transmission facility was a single circuit 35 kV overhead line with small sections of insulted cable for crossings. A majority of the 35 km 34.5 kV collector line is located on vacant crown land and parallels BC Hydro’s 500 kV Circuit 5L098 for an approximate distance of 21 km.

In executing this project, Allteck worked with the Westbank First Nations and used several of their Contractors to complete the work.

The Challenges

• The project required an expedited Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) approach to meet an aggressive schedule having to complete all phases of the scope of work in an eight (8) month period.
• Logging and road building was extensive, as such, it required the early identification of risks and mitigation strategies during the planning stage.
• Right of Way (ROW) clearing was performed during bird nesting season to meet the project milestones. As such, strict environmental mitigation procedures were implemented. In addition, Allteck provided additional specialized resources to perform bird sweeps and monitor compliance with environmental regulations.
• Allteck provided the Zero Emissions Development (ZED) and Black & McDonald technical advice and assistance regarding permitting, routing, conductor selection and constructability.

 Specialized Work Methods

• Helicopter methods for conductor stringing.