Powering up an oil sands construction site

A major oil sands project was underway in the harsh climate of north-eastern Alberta, Canada. It was still early days and there was no permanent power supply. Yet power was clearly needed – both for the construction itself and for much-needed heating during the freezing winter. The developer was looking for a scalable power system  that could adapt to the changing needs of the site; onsite support to respond to these changing needs, and rugged equipment built for the unrelenting environment. We ticked all the boxes.

Our generators perform in the harshest conditions, so we had no worries there. And they are easy to scale – we could quickly bring in more power as the site’s needs grew. So that’s just what we did. Our initial supply was a redundant 2.5 MW, increasing to a peak of just over 15 MW. When we found out that grid power would be delayed for over a year, we quickly supplied an additional 8 MW. When it came to heating, our electrically powered heaters met strict health and safety requirements and proved more efficient than the existing set up.

We made sure that the oil sands construction site had no problems with power or heating during the primary construction phase. When they needed more power, our onsite technicians responded fast, plugging in more equipment. They were also there to fix any issues before they threatened supply. The result was a steady stream of just the right amount of power – and the perfect level of heating in the harsh Canadian winter.