Design Innovations and Lessons Learned from 8 Hydro Facilities Recently Constructed in BC, Canada

摘要

This presentation will cover the design innovations and lessons learned from the detailed design and construction of 8 run of river hydroelectric projects recently constructed in British Columbia, Canada. These 8 facilities make up two major private sector developments that were awarded energy purchase agreements by BC Hydro in an open call for clean energy. These two projects are the 235 MW East Toba & Montrose projects, owned by Alterra Power & GE, and the 153 MW Kwalsa and Upper Stave projects, owned by Cloudworks Energy Inc. & Innergex. The two groups of projects included 8 individual run‐of‐river projects with installed capacities ranging from 18 MW to 147 MW and heads ranging from 102 m to over 580 m. Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Co. was awarded separate EPC Contracts for the design and construction of the two groups of projects and Knight Piesold Ltd. was appointed the Design Engineer for both contracts. The design of the projects presented many challenges in some extreme climates that resulted in several innovative solutions: run‐of‐river diversion weirs and intakes incorporating inflatable rubber dams, vortex de‐sanders and Coanda screens for sediment exclusion and flood passage; hydraulic model testing of selected intakes; buried Weholite low pressure conduits; buried steel penstocks up to 3.76 m in diameter using soil restraint to eliminate expensive concrete anchor blocks; surface mounted penstocks on steep rock cuts; surface powerhouses incorporating horizontal Francis and vertical multi‐jet Pelton type turbine generator units; sophisticated flow measuring and flow ramping protocols; and fisheries compensation measures.