The Buffalo Plains Wind Farm facility will generate energy to more than 100,000 homes
Sarens has a long history of developing wind farms in Canada. Recently, the heavy lifting specialist helped install 83 new wind turbines on 17,500 acres of land near Lomond, Alberta.
The new Buffalo Plains Wind Farm project is approaching its commercial operation date when the facility will start to generate power. The wind farm is expected to deliver 494 megawatts of clean energy capacity to the Alberta Interconnected Electric System.
The facility will generate clean energy enough to supply a city of more than 100,000 homes that will help to reduce emissions avoiding 795,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year to the atmosphere.
For construction, Sarens engineered transport and crane rental services, after being hired by Borea Construction to offload and install the 83 Siemens wind turbines on 17,500 acres of privately owned farmland.
The turbine models are the Siemens Gamesa 6.0-170 and 5.0-145 with a nominal capacity of 6.6 MW and 5.2 MW, respectively.
The 6.0-170 turbine has a hub height of 110.5 metres and weighs 149.4 tons. The 5.0-145 turbine has a hub height of 95.5 metres and weighs 152.4 tons.
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The engineering team oversaw offloading and installing 38 wind turbines of the 145 model and 45 units of the 170 model.
To complete the job, Sarens had to employ a staff of 52 workers. The biggest challenge was picking the right top out cranes for the project to lift the combo lifts and relocate in a timely manner.
The equipment selected was a boom booster and a Liebherr LG-1750 lattice boom mobile crane for their strong lifting at heights capabilities, also three Tadano CC-3800s and one LG-1750 were used to lift the maximum weight at the heights required. The equipment used to lift the heavy wind turbines are user friendly when it comes to the relocations, making them the best choice for this type of projects, according to Sarens.
The team took advantage of all low wind speeds to maximize performance and meet the deadlines hoisting activities and relocation. This project is located on sandy soil making moves more time consuming due to needing to dismantle the cranes further than normal. Another big challenge was to avoid storms that delivered high winds.
During construction, the project will create 300 construction jobs in Vulcan County and 10 to 15 permanent jobs when operational. This project has also increased the local spending on goods and services in the neighbouring areas.
Sarens’ history of developing wind projects in Canada includes the Golden South Wind Project in Assiniboia and the Blue Hill Project in Saskatchewan where Sarens contributed to the transport and erection of 50 wind turbines at their final destination. Sarens was also involved in the maintenance manoeuvres at the Whitla Wind facility, the largest in Alberta, to assembly and disassembly blades, rotors, gearboxes and main shafts that ensure the correct operation of the wind turbines.