Installation of a generator group

Project description

June 13, 2016, Hydro-Québec awarded Cegerco a contract  to install the generator sets in Schefferville. This project is a power reserve for the city, with the main goal of eliminating, or at least reducing, the very frequent power outages during the winter.

The main difficulty of this project was access to the Schefferville city, which could be done by train and plane only, that have greatly complicated operations at the level mobilization of machinery and site installations. In addition, the tight schedule was causing certain supply issues that the train made significant, and it’s  why planning became of fundamental importance.

Cegerco was first responsible for deforestation, the excavation of second class overburden, blasting and rock excavation. Subsequently, the elements of concrete poured in place, such as the mass of conduits and the foundations of the reservoir, had to be carried out before continuing the backfilling activities.

In order to meet the schedule, 85 bollards and 24 concrete pipe supports were prefabricated in the factory to only carry out the installation on site. Obviously, a good portion of the work was electrical, which required very strict management of the scheduling of the construction stages. Indeed, the installation of a power line, a MALT grid as well as several buried cable trenches were to be carried out simultaneously with the backfilling work. Once all of the backfill had been completed, Hydro-Quebec was then able to install the 4 generators and Cegerco could install the elements supplied by them, namely the switching building, the control building, the two transformers, the load bench and the 45,000 liters tank. Then, the installation of the fuel supply system of the generators made up of overhead pipes could then be carried out.
Finally, the connection of all the electrical equipment as well as the putting into operation of these made the central reserve operational for January 2017 to the great pleasure of our client as well as the inhabitants of Schefferville.