Mortenson Canada Corporation Expands Its Presence in the Ontario Wind Market

Mississauga, ON — Delivering renewable energy projects throughout Canada, Mortenson Canada Corporation (Mortenson), recently completed construction of the Gosfield Wind Farm (Gosfield) near Kingsville, Ontario, adding 50 megawatts to the region’s wind generating capacity. An additional 166 megawatts are under construction at Comber Wind Project (Comber), the sister project to Gosfield.

Located in agricultural land north of Lake Erie, the wind power facilities are developed and owned by Canadian-based developer Brookfield Renewable Power Inc. (Brookfield).

Gosfield consists of 22-2.3 megawatt Siemens turbines with 101 meter rotors—currently the largest rotor available in the North American market. Mortenson was responsible for the engineering and construction of the access roads, foundations, collection system, substation, and erection of the turbines.

At the Comber project, Mortenson will erect 72 Siemens 2.3-megawatt turbines for a total projected output of 166 megawatts of clean, renewable power, which will provide electricity to more than 55,000 households annually. The Mortenson team is responsible for access roads, foundations, underground collection, overhead collection, substation, and erection. The groundbreaking for Comber was in October, and the project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011. 

As an industry expert, Mortenson coordinates the logistics of the construction efforts, through hands-on and positive relationship development with town and county officials “In an effort to ensure traffic safety we use temporary traffic signs, for example, adding STOP signs to make a four-way stop, regulating the traffic leaving the project site, stated Mark Donahue, vice president and general manager. “Additional speed signs are also installed along some of the road ways reducing speed from 80 to 60 Km/Hour.” 

The Gosfield project provided approximately 25 million dollars in economic support within a 75 kilometer region of the site. Resources such as labor, supplies, equipment rental, hotels, and food were all supplied through the local community.

Comber is expected to bring an even greater economic impact to the area, as it is nearly three times the size of Gosfield. Many of the methods the Mortenson team used to make Gosfield a success will be used during the construction process at Comber since both projects have similar characteristics.