Montecristo hydroelectric project in Guatemala
Acres has been selected as Design Engineer by ENEL Latin America in connection with the 13-MW Montecristo hydroelectric project on the Rio Samalá in Guatemala. The project will collect the power flows from the recently commissioned El Canadá hydroelectric project, for which Acres was the Owner's Engineer. The Montecristo project comprises access roads, bridges, 1.6-km long penstock, surface powerhouse with two generating units, substation switchyard and a 2-km long transmission line. It will be executed in three phases beginning with optimization/project definition and water-to-wire specifications, followed by detailed design of structures and concluding with construction support.

SGE Acres to design support building for Maritime Helicopter Project
SGE Acres has obtained a sole-source assignment from the Millbrook First Nation to carry out the detailed definition for a 40,000-square-foot support facility that will include offices and an electromagnetically-shielded laboratory. SGE Acres prepared the preliminary designs and cost estimates for the support building under an earlier contract.

The building will be built on Millbrook land near the Shearwater airbase in Nova Scotia and leased to General Dynamics Canada which in turn has won a contract from the Department of National Defence to supply 28 new helicopters to replace the aging fleet of Sea Kings at CFB Shearwater.

Expanding Theun Hinboun power plant in Lao PDR
Acres has been retained to assess the potential for additional storage and power at the Theun-Hinboun Power Plant (THPP) in Laos. This project will be the eighth by Acres for the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC) in the past two years.

The plant, located on the Nam Theun River, has an installed capacity of 210 MW and was developed between 1995-98 by THPC as the first independent power project in Laos. Upstream of the THPP along the Nam Gnouang River is the proposed 237-MW Nam Theun 3 hydropower project (NT3) and the proposed Nam Theun 2 (NT2) on the Nam Theun River.

Comexhidro hydroelectric project in Mexico
Acres recently won a contract with the Bank of Nova Scotia to provide consulting services for the Independent Engineering Review of the Comexhidro hydroelectric project in Mexico.

Four phases include Independent Engineering review before financial closing, construction monitoring, witness startup and testing procedures, and annual operation audits throughout the loan term. The project is comprised of three small hydroelectric plants – one was commissioned in April 2003 and the other two are being constructed at existing dams. Most of the work is scheduled for the next two years, followed by annual technical audits until 2015.