Passadumkeag Windpark
Lowell, Maine
Award of Merit
Owner Quantum Utility Generation
Transmission Line Design RLC Engineering
Access Roads & Turbine Design James W. Sewall Co.
Foundation Design Barr Engineering Co.
Onsite Testing & Quality Control S.W. Cole Engineering
General Contractor Cianbro Corp.
Blasting & Rock Anchor Installation Maine Drilling & Blasting
Site Work Alvin J. Coleman & Sons Inc.
Land Clearing Comprehensive Land Technologies Inc.
Fiber & Terminations FiberNext LLC
Rebar Installation Stallion Steel
Situated in the eastern stretches of the Maine wilderness, the 40-MW Passadumkeag Windpark spans rugged mountains and includes overhead collection lines traveling along logging roads. The generated power moves to a newly built substation/switchyard facility and onward to the existing Emera Maine power grid.
The project team engineered and constructed the wind farm, substation and cross country transmission line.
The team procured substation/switchyard steel, electrical equipment and control buildings, collection line poles, cross arms, hardware, conductor and fiber.
The team also cleared 6.5 miles of forest, created new access roads and blasted and crushed more than 500,000 cu yd of rock. Crews installed 13 rock-anchored turbine foundations, erected 13 3.075-MW wind turbine generators and installed seven miles of an underground 34.5-kV collection system.
Turbine supplier Vestas conducted “exhaustive” inspections before the turbines could be delivered. While the typical inspection punch list can include hundreds of items, the project didn’t include a turbine with more than 20 punch list items. Some had no punch list items. The lead Vestas technician told Cianbro, “That was one of the best, or the best, punch lists I have ever seen.”
Though right-of-way acquisition issues delayed the start of construction by roughly seven months, contractors completed the project by the owner’s originally planned December 2015 deadline.
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