Media and government stakeholders get firsthand look at construction progress of Whitla Wind

As construction of the Whitla Wind project progresses, Capital Power hosted local media and government officials for a tour of the project site on August 15, 2019.

The group received a firsthand look at construction and learned about the various stages of wind turbine assembly. The tour showcased stops at several wind turbine locations, including a foundation with only rebar, a foundation with concrete poured, a semi-finished tower with components on the ground for viewing and a fully assembled wind turbine.

Work is ongoing at the Whilta Wind project site to complete the foundations, deliver components and assemble the turbines. The project workforce peaked at 322 contractors the week of August 2. Over the summer, Whitla Wind reached major milestones with the completion of the Operations & Management building, completion of foundation excavations and the substation energization.

The foundation for each wind turbine consists of a concrete spread footing approximately 10 feet deep and 60 feet in diameter. About 53 truckloads of concrete is needed per foundation, adding up to a total of 2,968 truckloads for the 56 foundations required for the project.

More than 600 major turbine components are being delivered by train to a rail siding in Foremost and trucked to the 56 individual turbine sites. A single turbine consists of 11 main pieces: a nacelle, hub, gear box, three blades and five tower sections.

The project also requires approximately 100 kilometres of 34.5 kV electrical collector lines that are currently being installed.