Local Contractor Riding the Wind

Standing on a concession road in Melancthon-Grey township (north west of Shelburne, Ontario) and gazing at many of the forty-five majestic, 80 metre tall wind turbines, local contractor Pat Carroll, President of Tiltran Services couldn’t help but have a feeling of deja vu.

Back in 1996 he once stood on a sun parched piece of ground overlooking an 11,000 acre ranch, in Big Springs Texas, where he and other contractors were explained the proposed scope of work to erect a 45 megawatt wind farm. Tiltran Services had been invited to participate in the project tendering efforts by the former Tacke Wind Power of Denmark, as a team member in charge of the electrical component for their submission. Unfortunately, Tiltran Services was not the successful bidder on that project.

Turbine Road Construction	Turbine Conduit Installation
High Voltage “Cable Train”	Multiple Circuit Trench

Carroll considered the opportunity a very flattering experience and valuable in his eventual quest to develop Tiltran Services into one of the most respected high voltage contractors in Ontario.

That goal and the corporate philosophy that is practiced today, has lead to the further development of the company and its valued employees. Tiltran Services has been able to boast that it has submitted more projects for the high voltage approval to the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) ,than any other company in the province of Ontario for the past four years.

Over the last ten years Tiltran Services has been involved with some small wind projects in the province. That includes the supply and commissioning of the transformer for the 660 kilowatt Vestas V-47 turbine at Port Albert (now known as Kingsbridge 1)and Tiltran was summoned to return to assist in the commissioning of the high voltage cables for the Kingsbridge II project (an additional 22 units) earlier this winter.

Tiltran Services was also involved with the partial servicing of the substation for the Huron Wind project at Tiverton where there were five Vestas V-80 units erected in 2002.

Next it was the completion of the entire electrical installation for the Sky Generation, Phase 1 project at Ferndale north of Wiarton on the Bruce peninsula, built that same year. That farm is preparing to add two additional turbines later this year and Tiltran Services is once again involved, providing engineering, the transformers and commissioning to the project.

Up until last year there were just ten commercially operational turbines in the province, but soon there will be a total of two hundred more new units connected to the Ontario grid and plans for an additional four hundred units through 2007.

Last year was a very busy year for Carroll and his staff. It started with the painstaking effort to tender the multi million dollar 34.5 kV underground collection system for the Erie Shores wind project at Port Burwell. Being just fifteen minutes from Tiltran Services’ home base, Carroll figured this would be by far, the best opportunity for his non-union company to land work on one of the five initial wind projects approved by the Ministry of Energy, in its November 2004 request for proposal (RFP).

Unfortunately there was a significant overhead line construction component to the project (which Tiltran Services does not provide in house) and collectively the overall bid by Mortenson Canada, who’s home base is Minneapolis, MN ,was not accepted for the project construction. That outcome was very disappointing for Carroll and his Tiltran Services staff whose construction and maintenance teams travel the highways of Ontario providing specialized high voltage services to many industrial, commercial and institutional customers. But Carroll never gave up on the idea of participating in one of these new renewable energy projects.

Tiltran Services tendered the Northland Power wind project at Grand Bend, but that project has yet to be awarded by the Ministry of Energy. The company is also keeping close tabs on the proposed 2007 Kruger Energy wind project at Port Alma, near Chatham.

Tiltran Services then went on to bid the underground collection system for the Melancthon-Grey (Canadian Hydro-Calgary) wind farm outside Shelburne. Tiltran Services was awarded all the high voltage terminations for the step up transformers, cable splicing and cable testing on that project working with Avertex of Orangeville, an underground specialty contractor. That project at 67.5 MW was connected into the Ontario grid early in 2006.

The opportunity and experience gained in a short period of time in Shelburne, ultimately proved to be the stepping stone of sorts for the company. In mid September they were approached by S&C Electric (Toronto-Chicago) to look at the entire 34.5 kV collector system and the turbine wiring for the Brookfield Power (formerly Brascan ) Prince 1 wind farm north west of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Tiltran Services was eventually awarded that significant project in late October and was asked to start on site the very next week. Initially the scope of the project was tendered to install the turbine conduit and grounding systems for just twenty one of the sixty-six bases up to Christmas 2005, then break for the winter freeze up and reconvene to finish the project in the spring. Before the project was even awarded, S&C was asked to change gears and ask their subcontractors Avery Construction (Civil) and Tiltran Services (Electrical) to work through the winter on the bases and also start burying approximately three hundred kilometers of power, ground and fiber optic communications cable into the 33.6 kilometers of sand bedded trench.

Completed 1.5 Mega Watt GE Turbine

The Phase I project itself has twenty seven kilometers of roads, many constructed right through the Canadian Shield and when completed Avery will have been required to remove and relocate approximately 180,000 cubic metrics of granite rock. Many of the turbine sites and the cable trenches had to be blasted and the cable laid in sand bedded trenches lined with filter cloth to protect the sand from percolating away and exposing the cables to possible damage.

This project is unlike the sand or clay fields seen at Port Burwell and Shelburne and needed a completely different thought process to effectively and efficiently complete the tasks at a site, truly under “mother nature’s control.” Encountering even more rock and water than originally anticipated the project moved forward slowly after Christmas and finally when the opportunity to bury cable came in late February, the frigid working conditions of –25 C in January were suddenly replaced with the effects of winter frost only to be followed by the spring run off, causing many days of grief and frustration for the crews. This, combined with the pounding of normal construction activity, ended up making some of the roads impassable for weeks.

Despite the winter construction delays the turbines were still scheduled to arrive late in May, so the schedule to complete all the tasks assigned in October, was suddenly compressed into a few short weeks of decent weather. S & C was asked that the project to be deemed as a “union-site”, so Tiltran Services (being non-union) relies on its union sub contractor, A & L Line Construction of Sudbury to supply the necessary electricians and linemen to complete the tasks. Tiltran Services would like to have sent up more of its specialty trained staff from Tillsonburg. However, the company had a tremendous year at home last year and it has ongoing commitments to the construction of new substations and the maintenance of existing systems in Southern Ontario, to keep up their reputation it has built up over the past 24 years.

On the project, convoys of excavators, sand trucks and conveyors worked with labourers to sand bed the trenches ahead of Tiltran Services/ cable crews. Large excavators are being used to hold the 7500 pound reels of cable out over the trenches. It is an effective installation system but when a snag is encountered, be it an unexpected shallow rock formation or the water from the spring run off breaks into our trenches, the convoy comes to a screeching halt until a solution is devised. Many times it meant reverting to another completely different task until the hoe rams or pumps have been summoned to rectify the situation and the team can re-group to continue.

There are four main cable circuits coming out of the 100 MVA substation. Daisy chaining to feed some of the 66 –1.5 Megawatt GE turbines into designated turbine strings, is similar to the Erie Shores project. But the Prince 1 wind farm collector system is entirely underground and there are no overhead wires visible whatsoever. The new 230 KV transmission line constructed up from Sault Ste. Marie (to take power from the wind farm and feed into the grid) is the only power lines visible.

The turbines started to arrive in late May and Mortenson wasted no time to assemble the towers, build the rotors and ‘fly the blades “. Only windy and poor weather conditions impede the erection schedule, except for a rare exception. There was a train derailment outside Sudbury on June 12th, which resulted in the damage to several of the nacelles, the heaviest piece weighing some 55 metric tonnes and the crucial part that houses the generator itself and supports the rotor assembly.

Some continued on to the site for evaluation, but others were too badly damaged and had to be loaded on trucks and returned to Pensacola Florida for evaluation, possible repair and return to the site early next month. The erection schedule is expected to be back on track early in August, and the further anticipation of a compressed schedule has caused Tiltran Services to assemble another (fourth) tower wiring crew.

Altogether Tiltran Services has close to seventy five people working on the site, made up of key supervisory people from Tillsonburg and the A&L union crews. Tiltran Services has since been awarded the Phase II collector system for another 60 turbines, which will have an overhead component this time,because there is only two disctinct land owners involved rather than the 23 in Phase I. Delivery of these turbines is to commence in late July. Both phases of the project now has 126 turbines and it is planned to be commercially “on line” by the end of November.

Pat Carroll has been involved in the electrical business for over forty years. As a young boy he worked for his dad’s company JB Carroll Electric, before he was old enough to be on construction sites. Then after high school, he made an attempt at engineering only to quit school and serve his apprenticeship. He obtained his certificate of qualification in 1975 and got married in the same year.

He then returned to the University of Western Ontario in 1977, at the request of his father who had built the former company with a just a grade nine education and his experience gained in the navy in World War II. Carroll obtained his electrical engineering degree in the spring of 1981, fulfilling the dream of his father and also went on to become a professional engineer (P Eng.) and a master electrician.

Since 1982 the new company, later to be known as Tiltran Services has been developing a qualified staff of engineers, technicians, technologists, electricians, and apprentices trained to provide a broad range of specialized services from construction to maintenance to power quality solutions, all based from its unique facilities located on the west side of Tillsonburg in Bayham township.

Tiltran Services‘ construction and maintenance activity is supported by its associated supply company Lizco Sales, which boasts ownership of the largest privately owned high voltage inventory in all of Canada. The natural synergy between the two companies in recent years, has been branded under the “Partners in Power” corporate logo.

Liz and Pat Carroll have also been together for over thirty five years and being partners in marriage for most of those, the natural business relationship really needs no explanation. Their partnership has also been quite evident in the Community, as past and present members of service clubs (Kinsmen), always giving of their time, corporate resources and money to enhance the community and make it a better place for the next generations to build their own futures. This is something that was instilled in Pat by his father, a long time member of the local Lions Club.

Ironically both JB Carroll Electric and now Tiltran Services up until recent years, focused on the building & maintaining of substations for its customers to consume power to build products and deliver services, but this new involvement with the “Green Power” wind business has evolved and Tiltran is now is using its expertise to help shore up the supply of power in the province to meet the demands of industry and the public in the future.

The above article appeared in a supplement of the Tillsonburg News called “Then & Now” in July 2006. DOWNLOAD the original in PDF