Lamèque Wind Farm

On August 3, 2010, Énergie Acciona Energy officially announced a wind farm project on Lamèque Island. The project is becoming a reality thanks to the vision and hard work, over the past eleven years, of the Coop énergie renouvelable de Lamèque ltée under the direction of Mr. Paul A. Lanteigne. The Parc éolien Île Lamèque has signed a 25-year agreement with NB Power.  Acciona is inaugurating its fourth wind farm. This will be a major investment for the region, creating jobs during construction and then to maintain the wind farm. In all, thirty (30) 1.5 MW wind turbines located on 3,100 acres on Lamèque Island will finally see the light of day, to the great pleasure of Coop members. Over 68 landowners have signed agreements with the Coop d’énergie renouvelable and Acciona. Construction began in the winter of 2010 and was finished in the spring of 2011. The turbines have been spinning and generating electricity since the end of March 2011. The wind farm generates electricity to supply around 8,000 homes in the region. With the wind farm, Lamèque Island and the surrounding area will enjoy decreased greenhouse gas emissions, a gift for our beautiful planet.

Wind turbine at the Ecological Park of the Acadian Peninsula

In August 2010, the Ecological Park of the Acadian Peninsula installed a 3.5 kW wind turbine in order to be able to interpret it for visitors and those interested in knowing more about green energy. The electricity generated will supply the welcome building, the interpretation tower and the walkway, another means to show everyone our ecological values.

 

Official launch of the Lamèque wind farm, 15th of September 2011

Follow the link to the official press release by Acciona

You can view more pictures of the construction process and wind farm with some aerial photos included in the Photo gallery (left sidebar)

Acciona corporate facts

o  ACCIONA is a 100 year old company with its earliest roots in the construction business. Our slogan “Pioneers in Sustainable Development” reflects our commitment to achieve sustainable development in all business areas, contributing to economic growth, social progress and environmental balance.

o  Over the last century, ACCIONA has grown into a global leader in sustainable infrastructure, water solutions and of course renewable energy.

o  We are the second largest operator of wind farms in the world, and have experience in seven different renewable technologies.

o  Globally, we generate enough energy for 3 million people- all from renewable sources.

o  The Lameque project is ACCIONA’s fourth wind power project in Canada but our first in New Brunswick and the first project in Canada to use ACCIONA wind turbines. 

o  This project was a collaboration of three of ACCIONA’s main businesses: Energy, Windpower and Infrastructure.

o  We are proud to expand our global footprint in Canada with this project.

o  Acciona has ownership in ten operational wind farms in North America.

Overall Lameque Project Facts

o  Rated production capacity:

§ 45 MW

o  Number of turbines:

§ 30 Acciona Windpower turbines 1.5 MW

o  Acciona has invest $115 million in the project

o  The project will contribute almost $9M in taxes to the benefit of New Brunswickers

o  Number of homes powered –

§ The wind farm will produce enough power for more than 8,000 New Brunswick homes

o  CO2 emissions avoided:

§ Approximately 116,000 tons of CO2 emissions will be avoided annually with use of this renewable energy.

o  Crown land on project site:

§ 3 Crown land parcels have project infrastructure built on them.

o  Number of land parcels

§ 130 land parcels were signed up for the project.  (leases, waivers, etc.  Not all of which are ‘active’ in the O&M phase)

o  Number of land owners

§ 68 land owners participated in the project

o  Project size:

§  3,100 acres

o  Project development history:

§  La Coopérative d’Énergie Renouvelable de Lamèque (Lameque Co-op) was formed in 2000 with the intention of developing a wind farm on the island.  The first met tower was installed in 2001.  Acciona has been involved since 2005.

o  Construction personnel

§ The construction of the Lameque wind farm involved hundreds of workers from fall of 2010 through spring of 2011.

o  Construction period

§  Aug 2010 through March 2011, with civil restoration completed through the summer of 2011

o  Date wind farm was operational:  March 30,2011

o  Number of Permanent workers - 8

Roads

o  Length of roads

§  20km, 12.4 miles

o  Height of road

§ The thickest sections are 1m of local sandstone built directly on top of the existing ground.

o  Gravel cap on roads

§ A 4 inch gravel cap from St. Isidore was placed on the road for a final driving surface

o  Geofabric

§ Woven polypropylene (plastic) fabric was used underneath the road material to separate the road stone from the soil and reinforce the road section. 

o  GeoGrid

§ a rigid plastic grid was used under the roads as well to help support the road by transferring forces to a larger area of soil than would otherwise be the case

o  Culverts

§ Culverts were installed under the roads to allow for water flow

§  Diameter of culverts – 20 inches, 52 cm

§ A quantity of 40 culverts were installed

o  Road width –typical driving surface is 6m (19.7’) wide

§ Width in wetlands –

·        Roads are narrower through wetlands to minimize the impact on wetlands

·        Driving surface is 4m (13.1’) [6m (19.7’) toe to toe at base]

o  Wetlands

§ There are 26 wetlands in the project area.

Foundations

o  Amount of concrete

§ Each foundation: 353 cubic meters  (12,466 cubic feet)

§ All 30 foundations:

·        10,600 cubic meters for whole project (374,000 cubic feet)

·        This volume of concrete could fill a hockey rink up to 7m (23ft) high

·        Concrete trucks

o  Approximately 40 concrete trucks per foundation

o  1,200 total truck trips to the site. 

o  Lined up end to end this would stretch 13.7 km (8.5 miles)

o  Weight of reinforcing steel

§ Each foundation has 29,270 kg (32 tons) of reinforcing steel

§ For the whole project: 878,100 kg (968 tons)

§ This is equivalent weight as 5.5 Air Canada Boeing 767 jets fully loaded with over 200 passengers.  Or 1,400 adult moose.

o  Depth of foundation – 2.3 m (7.5’)

o  Diameter of foundation – 16.6 m (54.5’)

o  Foundation Bolts

§ Ring of bolts on inner and outer turbine tower flange

§ Length of bolts -  2 m (6 ft)

§ Number of bolts at base - 132

§ Bolts at base are installed by a process called tensioning that stretches the bolt to allow nut to tighten. 

Turbine

o  There are three tower sections bolted together.  The piece that sits on top of the tower is called a nacelle.

o  Three blades connect to the hub.  When the three blades are connected to a hub we call the assembly a “rotor”.

o  Diameter at base – 4.57m (15’)

o  Height of turbine – 80m to hub (262’)

§ Each tower is about 26 stories high.

§ The tower sections for all 30 turbines stacked on top of each other, would be 2,310 meters high (7,578 ft) or (2.3 km, 1.4 mi) or 4 times as high as the CN tower in Toronto (which is 553 m (1,815 ft) tall)

o  Diameter of rotor – 77m (252’)

o  Length of one blade – 37.5m (123’)

o  Weight of tower – 130 tons

o  Weight of entire turbine - 215 tons

·        Inside the turbine there is:

o  Gearbox

o  Generator

o  Shaft (to connect rotor to gearbox)

o  Lift (to carry people up and down the tower)

·        Erection

o  Cranes used

§ On the project we had 2 main erection cranes and 2 smaller cranes for assembling bases and mids and building rotors

Collection System

o  Turbine generates at 12,000 volts.  Underground collection cables that connect the turbines are also at 12,000 volts.

o  Length of collection system – 20,000 m (12.4 miles)

o  Length of total cable – 140 km (87.5 miles)

§ (If connected end to end, the cable could reach past Miramichi, which is only 120km away)

o  Cable is buried 4ft underground

o  Diameter of cable–

§ thickest cable we used on site was  3.2 cm (1.25” ) diameter

Osprey nests

o  2 osprey nests stands were installed

o  Placed on top of poles, 30’ high

O&M building

o  Total Area of building:  589 sq meters (6,340 sq ft)

o  Height – 10m (33 ft)

Substation

o  Transformer -  large box in middle of substation is the transformer.  It transforms voltage from 12kv to 69kv.

o  Power at 69kv leaves the substation on the transmission line to connect to electrical grid.

Transmission Line

o  8km line to the Lameque Substation, 69,000 V

o  Transmission line was built, owned, and operated by NB Power.