Award of Excellence for Winter Road Bridges Project
On April 14, 2005, the Consulting Engineers of Manitoba presented an Award of Excellence in the ‘Innovation’ category to Acres Manitoba for its work on the Winter Road Bridges Project. The Manitoba Winter Road Network is over 2,000 km long and serves 25 northern First Nation communities. In 2001, Acres Manitoba developed a prototype design for bridges that would only be used for two or three months when the ground is frozen, but nevertheless would have to meet the same codes, standards and environmental regulations as conventional bridges. The award-winning design can be constructed using typical local labor forces and equipment – and installed in under two working days. To date, Manitoba Transportation and Government Services has installed 16 of the bridges. The CEM judges remarked that "The length of the winter road season is critical to Northern communities that rely on the network for supply of heating fuel, food and other necessities of life. The judging panel selected this project because the winter road bridge design offers a simple, innovative and practical solution that will extend this winter shipping season. The solution involves standardized components, environmental friendliness and construction techniques that are suitable for remote northern environments."
15-year retrofit complete at Akosombo Generating Station
On March 4, 2005, the final milestone was reached on the Akosombo GS Retrofit in Ghana with delivery of the last unit to the Volta River Authority. Acres was initially responsible for the retrofit project's conceptual design as well as management of the bidding process up to the award of contracts for the supply and installation of the new plant; we subsequently were responsible for site construction management for VRA. Detailed monitoring ensured that on-site construction progressed one unit at a time so the remaining five could operate undisturbed. New replacement-turbine runner design and water-passage modifications incorporated state-of-the-art technology, enabling unit performance to exceed original manufacturers' guarantees. Each turbine's output increased from 127 MW to 175 MW at a head of 60 m, and the unit efficiency at a turbine discharge of 263 cubic meters per second increased from 82.9% to 93.3%. Savings from displaced thermal energy is estimated at around US$50 million per year and, since the first unit to be retrofitted with a new runner was commissioned in 2000, the project is well on its way to exceeding break-even. At the official ceremony, VRA CEO Joshua Ofedie offered special thanks to Acres staff and said that he looks forward to continuing the now 30-year relationship with Acres.
Synexus continues growth in the U.S.
Synexus Global has been awarded a significant contract by Tacoma Power in Washington, USA, following a successful pilot installation ofVista and an AUTO Vista study on the Mossyrock powerhouse unit upgrade, performed in conjunction with Acres Seattle. Synexus will supply its water resource management software, starting with the long-term modeling component, LT Vista, potentially to be followed by the off-line study module AUTO Vista and the short-term modeling component. Tacoma owns approximately 1300 MW of hydro generation capacity and contracts with adjacent generators for an additional 700 MW. With theseVista installations, Tacoma joins other notable entities including Bonneville Power Administration, PacifiCorp and Avista that use the Decision Support System software to meet their increasingly complex resource-management and generation objectives. Synexus is also installing a pilot version ofVista for Tacoma's neighboring utility, Seattle City Light, and has recently received an order from Idaho Power Company for support services to augment its existing use of AUTO Vista.
SGEA awarded Duck Pond Mine/Mill
SGE Acres, in association with Met-Chem of Montreal, has been retained by Aur Resources Inc. to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for the development of the Duck Pond copper-zinc mine and mill project in central Newfoundland. SGEA will be responsible for construction management and inspection for the overall project as well as engineering for site infrastructure including roads, water supply, campsites, office and administration buildings, warehouse and maintenance shops. The mine and mill are scheduled for operation in October 2006. Met-Chem will provide overall project management services, process design and the design of the mill. Engineering work will be shared between the SGEA Clarenville, St. John's, Moncton and Sydney offices. Aur Resources will be responsible for development of the mine. SGEA and Met-Chem have a relationship dating back to 1996 on a similar teaming for the Nuggett Pond mine/mill project near Baie Verte, Newfoundland.
ASL passes nuclear audit with flying colors
From January 18 to 20, 2005, the Acres-Sargent & Lundy joint venture was audited by the CANDU Procurement Audit Committee to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of ASL’s quality program relating to work for Bruce Power. CANPAC is the auditing arm of the CANDU Owners Group that includes Ontario Power Generation, Bruce Power, Hydro Quebec and New Brunswick Power. The audit complied with the requirements of CSA N286.2 ‘Design Quality Assurance for Nuclear Power Plants’. These requirements must be met in order to maintain status as an approved supplier of nuclear design services to COG. Failure would result in disqualification from future participation in Canadian nuclear projects. ASL recently received the official report from CANPAC in which one Corrective Action Request (CAR) was issued under the category of ‘Verification Planning’. This was the only CAR out of a total of 24 categories audited. ASL promptly addressed it to CANPAC’s satisfaction, passing the critical audit with flying colors.
Red River Floodway expansion
The Manitoba Floodway Authority has selected Acres Manitoba as part of a team undertaking the detailed design for Parcel 2 of the Red River Floodway Expansion – continuing more than 30 years of Acres involvement with the Floodway. This project will include the extension and raising of the 40-mile west dyke which protects Winnipeg from floodwaters, inlet structure modifications, channel expansion to increase capacity by 60%, modifications to various drainage structures along the channel, partial reconstruction of the City of Winnipeg Aqueduct, reconstruction and expansion of the existing outlet structure, and erosion protection improvements downstream of the Floodway. Initial design activities have commenced and will continue through 2007 while construction activities are scheduled to begin this summer and continue into 2009.