BELCO North Power Station
Project: Hamilton, Bermuda
Brewster Drilling and Piling
and Burmeister Wains
Scandinavian Contractors
overcame logistical challenges
brought on by a remote island
location in the Atlantic Ocean
By Lisa Kopochinski
It was back in December 2017 that Brewster Drilling and
Piling – a division of FTE Drilling, with locations in Nova
Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Ontario – was contacted
by Burmeister Wains Scandinavian Contractors (BWSC).
The Danish global turnkey developer, contractor and operator
of tailored engine-based and boiler-based power plants tapped
the Canadian company to assist with a piling solution for the
BELCO North Power Station in Bermuda.
BWSC had built the previous power station on the island
in 2009, but had experienced difficulties with the driven piles
achieving refusal in the carbonate rock. In the end, BWSC
needed to drive piles to refusal on the basalt rock approximately
49 metres below grade. This potential impact to the
schedule was something that BWSC was determined to avoid
this time around.
Brewster Drilling and Piling worked together with BWSC
to develop a hollow bar micropile system consisting of 640
piles to support the required infrastructure for the BELCO
North Power Station project. This solution would enable piles
to be terminated in the carbonate formation above the basalt
and substantially reduce the project’s cost and schedule.
Due to the tight schedule of this project, material orders
had to be placed immediately after the financial close and
project award.
26 Q1 2020 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
