{"id":458,"date":"2012-10-01T19:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theflatironblog.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2016-07-28T19:22:40","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:22:40","slug":"market-feature-power-generation-transmission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/news\/market-feature-power-generation-transmission\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Feature: Power Generation & Transmission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Globally, we are in\u00a0the midst of a massive spike in energy\u00a0demand. According to the U.S. Energy\u00a0Information Administration<\/a>, our worldwide\u00a0demand for energy will increase 53 percent\u00a0between 1990 and 2035. Renewable\u00a0energy will see the biggest jump (from\u00a010 to 14 percent), but fossil fuels will\u00a0continue to provide approximately 80\u00a0percent of our energy worldwide.<\/p>\n

Member nations of the Organization\u00a0for Economic Cooperation and\u00a0Development<\/a>, a group of 34 emerging\u00a0and developed countries like the\u00a0U.S. and Canada, will drive about 30\u00a0percent of the increase, while non-OECD nations, namely China and India,\u00a0will account for about 70 percent.<\/p>\n

Electricity consumption is growing even\u00a0faster, increasing by a whopping 84\u00a0percent during this same time. Electricity is\u00a0generated primarily from six main sources:\u00a0coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydropower,\u00a0renewable (i.e. wind and solar) and liquids.\u00a0In the U.S., the majority of electricity is\u00a0generated from natural gas (25 percent)\u00a0and coal (42 percent). In Canada, about 60\u00a0percent of energy comes from hydropower.\u00a0The public and private sectors will face\u00a0immense challenges in not only meeting\u00a0this demand, but meeting it in a way that\u00a0does not unduly burden the environment.<\/p>\n

Over the past several years Flatiron\u00a0has directed increasingly more\u00a0resources to this \u201cpower\u201d market,\u00a0including dams, hydropower, mining\u00a0infrastructure and transmission lines.\u00a0\u201cOur primary focus remains heavy civil\u00a0infrastructure for public transportation\u00a0including bridges, roads, tunnels, ports\u00a0and transit. But there is an opportunity\u00a0for power projects to provide a\u00a0significant portion of related heavy\u00a0civil work in the next five years or so,\u201d\u00a0says Steve Small, vice president of\u00a0business development in Canada.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to lump power-related projects\u00a0into a single market because the\u00a0construction scopes are so different.\u00a0Transmission lines present unique\u00a0challenges, like having to buy and\u00a0ship the towers and conductors from\u00a0overseas. The construction methods are\u00a0also extremely challenging\u2014Flatiron is\u00a0building 600 tower foundations and will\u00a0use a helicopter to string conductor line\u00a0for the new Interior to Lower Mainland\u00a0transmission line in British Columbia.<\/p>\n

Also in British Columbia, Flatiron\u00a0is retrofitting the Ruskin Dam, an\u00a0existing powerhouse and dam\u00a0facility built in the 1920s.\u00a0\u201cThis project requires close coordination\u00a0with the plant operators, because we\u00a0must maintain existing power operation,\u201d\u00a0notes Steve. Flatiron\u2019s contract is part of\u00a0a series to retrofit the dam to withstand\u00a0a 10,000-year earthquake. The upgraded\u00a0facility will provide power to 33,000 homes.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>\u201cWe\u2019re investing to improve aging\u00a0facilities and infrastructure,\u201d says Judy\u00a0Dobrowolski, who handles capital\u00a0projects communications for BC\u00a0Hydro<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re building new substations\u00a0and transmission lines to link to them\u00a0and making critical improvements\u00a0to more than 80,000 kilometers of\u00a0transmission and distribution lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

BC Hydro expects the demand for\u00a0electricity to increase by 20 to 40\u00a0percent in the next 20 years, the\u00a0equivalent of adding five cities the\u00a0size of Vancouver to the grid.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the Clean Air Act consolidated\u00a0BC Hydro and BC Transmission\u00a0Corporation into a single entity that plans\u00a0and delivers clean energy to the province.\u00a0The legislation requires BC Hydro to\u00a0generate at least 93 percent of electricity\u00a0from clean or renewable resources and\u00a0to build the infrastructure necessary to\u00a0transmit that electricity. To meet these\u00a0requirements, BC Hydro will spend $1.5\u00a0billion on generation and $3.7 billion on\u00a0transmission and distribution, just through\u00a02014, on more than 30 planned projects.<\/p>\n

Steve says hydropower is a tremendous\u00a0clean and renewable natural resource\u00a0that has provided low-cost power for\u00a0many generations. Another benefit is the\u00a0energy can be stored to use at peak power\u00a0periods during the day, which is a distinct\u00a0cost advantage over coal and gas plants.<\/p>\n

Other work in British Columbia\u00a0includes the C$8 billion Site C, a\u00a0proposed third dam and hydroelectric\u00a0generating station on the Peace River\u00a0in northeast British Columbia.\u00a0\u201cSite C would be a source of clean,\u00a0reliable and cost-effective electricity\u00a0for more than 100 years, providing\u00a0enough energy to power the equivalent\u00a0of about 450,000 homes per year in\u00a0the province,\u201d says Steve. Early works\u00a0packages will be issued in 2013.<\/p>\n

In addition to the work in British Columbia,\u00a0Flatiron plans to bid multiple contracts for\u00a0a massive $6 billion scheme to develop\u00a0the lower Churchill hydroelectric project\u00a0located on a tributary of Lake Melville\u2014a\u00a0location that, as the crow flies, is a 1,500-mile trek northeast of New York City in a\u00a0cold and remote area of Newfoundland.<\/p>\n

The majority of the work required\u00a0for massive hydropower projects is\u00a0essentially heavy civil infrastructure\u00a0work, like excavation and construction of\u00a0foundations, structures and roads. Work\u00a0at Lower Churchill includes excavation\u00a0for a 14-story building, installation of\u00a0turbines and a generator, construction\u00a0of cofferdams and roller compacted\u00a0concrete dams, a C$1 billion spillway\u00a0and a C$1 billion transmission line. All\u00a0of these projects are expected to come\u00a0out for bid over the next six months.<\/p>\n

There is another estimated $15\u00a0billion in transmission line work\u00a0throughout Alberta and Manitoba.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Globally, we are in\u00a0the midst of a massive spike in energy\u00a0demand. According to the U.S. Energy\u00a0Information Administration, our worldwide\u00a0demand for energy will increase 53 percent\u00a0between 1990 and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[87,183,223,304,325,345,426],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-news","tag-british-columbia","tag-flatiron-corporation","tag-hydropower","tag-oecd","tag-power-generation","tag-renewable-energy","tag-transmission"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}