Making a connection
Maritime Link crosses the Strait of Canso
Andrew MacInnis has been looking down on bald eagles while eating his lunch lately.
Whatever half-rotten fish they’ve been munching on hasn’t affected his appetite because it’s too far down to really see.
“Mostly whatever’s left over from supper,” said MacInnis of what he carries up the tower for a midday snack.
Watching from below is Tom Flewwelling.
“It can be nerve-racking,” said Nova Scotia Power’s 40-year-old project manager for the Strait of Canso Transmission Crossing.
Because if anything goes wrong on this project where everything is big and high and heavy, it’s on him.
The fun has just begun in this stage of the project that will see electricity travelling from hydroelectric turbines in Labrador via the Maritime Link to mainland Nova Scotia.
“There are significant safety risks associated with every stage of this project,” said Flewwelling.
So that means every day has been a highly orchestrated dance of man, crane and galvanized steel.
For two-and-a-half years it’s been Flewwelling’s job to plan every move.
Think of everything that could go wrong.
And find a way to make it safe. “Every step is laid out, all hazards identified and procedures put in place to mitigate those risks,” said Flewwelling.
On Thursday they reached a major milestone in the project that began in February. The two big towers from which will hang two three-kilometrelong powerlines, each weighing about 15 tonnes, were about 400 feet high — the maximum reach of the crane.
Because the towers need to be 530 feet high. In steps Bubba.
“We can set the footings right to the number, right on the attachment,” said Court Jones, crew chief for Erickson Inc. of Oregon.
The Sikorsky S64-F model crane was named “Bubba” by its original pilots back when it was built in 1971 during the Vietnam War.
Bubba is certified to lift 25,000 pounds.
The heaviest of the 16 segments it’ll lift over the coming two weeks weighs 20,000 pounds.
On Friday morning every person working on the project was in a room together so they could all be aware of exactly what was supposed to happen when.
Bubba has three pilots — one of whom sits facing backward, looking down through a bubble window.
That pilot can control the helicopter as they lower the segment into place.
Then MacInnis jams the big bolts home and tightens them.
“Not really nervous, just a little bit more on edge,” said MacInnis on Thursday of his feelings leading up to the first helicopter lift on Friday.
“There is a little bit of adrenalin to it.”
Once the final towers are done, they’ll take one of the 230,000-volt lines off the existing towers built in 1982 and put it on the new crossing, along with a new 345,000-volt line to connect the Maritime Link to mainland Nova Scotia.
If everything goes according to plan, it’ll be done by Christmas and MacInnis won’t have broken a fingernail.
And Nova Scotians will be able to charge their smartphones with the power of the mighty Churchill River.