Wataynikaneyap Power Transmission

Client

September 2019

Ongoing

Design & commission 1600km of line, and 22 substations ranging from 240kV to 25kV to provide grid connection to 17 remote First Nations Communities.

Largest EPC transmission project in Canadian history, connecting remote communities in Ontario.
22 x MV and HV substations (21 greenfield, 1 brownfield)
Completed commissioning of 12 greenfield stations, and 1 brownfield station and energized 6 stations in 1 year.
Integrated and fully tested an in-house designed auto-restoration scheme capable of re-energizing feeder load for a single transformer outage.
9 new lattice tower types, 12 foundation types and 6 anchor types designed and tested.
Efficient delivery (tight schedule) of designs for 21 greenfield stations and modifications to one brownfield station covering voltage levels of 230, 115, 44 & 25kV
Control building design considered the logistics of delivering to the remote station locations to ensure trucking went smoothly
New standard protective relay module designs were created without any existing client standards or templates – increased efficiency of design & panel shop production
Custom automation schemes:
- A novel voltage control algorithm was created for variable shunt reactors to automatically adapt to changes in system strengths.
- A complex station restoration scheme was created at client request to automatically restore feeder loads following a transformer or breaker failure

Due to northern climates with limited access or winter-only access, a robust geotechnical / probing program and foundation selection program was implemented immediately before foundation construction to minimize turnaround times.
Rugged terrains across the Canadian Shield.
Work was all performed in very remote locations which required advanced and detailed project and logistics planning in order to be successful.
Tight schedule.
Transmission line design, material type testing, inspection, and testing completed during the COVID pandemic requiring innovative QA/QC techniques and logistics planning.
Poor soil conditions for grounding made cost effective design challenging.
Volatile costs (pandemic induced supply chain issues).
Variable & sometimes very weak system source strength presented a wide range of system conditions which needed to be considered in developing voltage control strategies, protective relaying design & settings.