Dufferin Wind Farm Project - 5.0km of 230kV underground Duct Bank

The Dufferin Wind Farm Project consisted of approximately 5.0km of 230kV underground ductbank installed as part of a larger overhead system that ran from the wind farm substation to the interconnect site/station with Hydro One. Somerville installed this ductbank consisting of 3-6" dia. DB2 pipe (15.0km total placement) in a thermal concrete envelope, and backfilled with thermal compacted screenings on top. The project was constructed in an abandoned rail right-of-way through the Town of Shelbourne and into the Town of Orangeville, Ontario. There were a number of challenges on this project that were overcome. Approximately 3.0km of the installation was via the open-cut method, with the remaining 2.0km installed via horizontal directional drilling (HDD). These HDD sections were drilled individually traversing highways, roads, swamps, and utility crossings. There were also 7 reinforced masonary joint bays constructed for splicing, 3 transition stations from overhead to underground, and 1 transformer station at the end of the project at the interconnect site.