Maritime Link welds to be repaired in Cape Breton
Work not expected to delay project
Hundreds of faulty welds found in transmission tower components for the Maritime Link project are being repaired in Cape Breton.
Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd. of India made and supplied the welds for the towers that will carry electricity generated from Muskrat Falls, Labrador. The welds in question are for the steel base structures and affect about 100 of the more than 650 transmission towers involved in the project.
Jeff Myrick, spokesman for Emera Newfoundland Labrador, confirmed Wednesday that the repairs would be made in Cape Breton and that Kalpataru would pay for them.
“Yes, ( East Coast Metal Fabrication) has been contracted by Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd. to repair a small component type that is used in the base structures for one type of steel transmission tower that will be used on the Maritime Link Project,” said Myrick in an interview conducted by email. “The estimated cost for these repairs is relatively minor, considering the total scope of work. It is approximately $100,000 out of total steel supply of approximately $ 10 million. The repair cost is being covered by the supplier.”
East Coast Metal Fabrication’s chief operating officer Joe Hines told the Cape Breton Post he couldn’t comment on the matter due to a confidentiality agreement.
According to Myrick, a small section on one steel base component type needed repair since it did not meet Emera’s engineering design specification.
“Our quality assurance surveyors discovered this during inspection, so we did an extensive assessment of these welds,” said Myrick. “To put this into perspective, this is about 800 components types out of the tens of thousands that will be used to assemble the transmission infrastructure.”
Emera Newfoundland & Labrador hired experts from Wayland Engineering of Halifax and CFM to test the weld in question.
“The good news is that these repairs are straight forward and the expertise is already present in Cape Breton to complete it,” said Myrick. “The local companies have been very good to work with and the repairs are being made properly and efficiently. “
The repairs will be completed over the next few weeks so no delays to the project will result.
The Maritime Link is a 500mega-watt high voltage direct current transmission project bringing energy from the Lower Churchill project at Muskrat Falls to Nova Scotia. The project will include two 170- kilometre subsea cables across the Cabot Strait, with almost 50 km of overland transmission in Nova Scotia and close to another 300 km of overland transmission on Newfoundland.
The project is set to go on stream in late 2017.