Situation
The 300 megawatt Tucannon River Wind Farm is located 10 miles outside of Dayton, WA and is owned and operated by Portland General Electric. This marked the 11th time GBI completed a project for RES Americas Construction as a subcontractor.
Solution
GBI first broke ground at Tucannon River in November of 2014, building 33 miles of new site road, constructing 91 turbine pads and 116 crane pads, and performing site reclamation across 300 acres.
A cold early winter and a very wet spring in the first year of the project posed the most significant challenges. The cold temperatures caused deeper penetration of frost, complicating stripping and mass excavation activities. Additionally, the substantial spring snow and rain caused an extended freeze/thaw cycle that hampered the compaction, final grading, and rock surfacing activities for the construction of the roads and crane pads.
A second major challenge to the project was an increased excavation scope from 360,000 cubic yards to 850,000. Since time extensions to the overall construction timeline were not an option, GBI brought in additional crews and equipment to maintain the completion dates.
Notable
At peak construction, GBI had 50 craft employees working 60+ hour weeks. We also had subcontractors performing trucking duties, installing fencing, and seeding reclaimed areas.
