Room to plan
Being left to their own planning meant that Cyntech and
Keller were able to produce the best piling plan for the
WATL project.
“The major benefit to the client was the fact that, because
we have the capability to install virtually any deep foundation
type, the Cyntech-Keller team could select the best technique
for the soil conditions encountered,” said Hindbo. “The decision
on which type of foundation to be used on any specific
structure was left up to us – and if the conditions turned out
differently than expected, we could simply shift on-the-fly
and hand that structure over to a different Cyntech or Keller
crew with a different piling technique.”
Cyntech and Keller wrapped their piling work on March
31, 2014, and as AltaLink reports, the WATL was in full operation
by December 2015. The results, early on, are already
positive. As AltaLink president Scott Thon told the Edmonton
Journal in December 2015, the WATL’s versatility is already
reaping benefits; during testing they even demonstrated the
line’s ability to actually reverse the direction of the flow of
electricity when wind power is being generated.
“When the wind was blowing in southern Alberta, we
were flowing large quantities on the new HVDC line up into
the Edmonton region from southern Alberta, and that’s just
really unique,” Thon said in the interview. “That just speaks to
the flexibility of the new technology.”
And, in part, the province of Alberta has Cyntech and
Keller to thank for this new capability.
PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
By the project’s completion, the final count of
completed structures in Cyntech’s scope was 115
Ten Years of Piling Canada 41
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