Muskrat Falls transmission fix requires 9,000 new pieces of equipment
Work will take 4 years, cost about $16M, according to 'rough estimate' from NL Hydro
Some 9,000 new pieces of equipment must be installed to fix a recurring transmission issue tormenting the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project. The repairs will take four years, according to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.
The new devices, called "air flow spoilers," are necessary to stabilize 161 spans of the Labrador-Island Link power line, the 1,100-kilometre transmission line linking the Muskrat Falls plant to the Soldier's Pond switchyard near St. John's.
This latest chapter in the Muskrat Falls saga comes weeks after Hydro announced the vastly overbudget project's price tag had hit $13.5 billion and an independent report stated at least one of the power plant's four generating units must be fully dismantled.
As things stand, about five per cent of the 3,200 electrical towers on the link are equipped with metal "turnbuckles," which are meant to regulate the tension and length of power lines.
Faulty turnbuckles have repeatedly led to a problem called "galloping," which occurs when high winds push on iced-over power lines and cause a jumping motion that affects transmission. Hydro said failing turnbuckles have led to outages at five towers since 2020.
Last December, three broken turnbuckles were discovered in remote sections of the Northern Peninsula and southern Labrador. In each case, the damage took at least 10 days to repair.
When a turnbuckle broke and a wire fell to the ground near Hampden, in the Long Range Mountains, snow had to be cleared from 72 kilometres of access roads before repairs could even begin.
Plan focuses on most remote locations first
Hydro's four-year plan promises to replace turnbuckles "in the highest risk and most remote areas [to] help reduce the duration of on outage in the event of a failure." The most remote electrical towers are located about 100 kilometres away from the nearest regularly used roadway.
"The most remote areas are also where we are experiencing the most problems from galloping," said spokesperson Jill Pitcher in a statement, although she said galloping has occurred in central and southern Labrador, in the Long Range Mountains on the Northern Peninsula, as well as in eastern Newfoundland.
"The failed turnbuckles were in remote, elevated areas affected by significant ice storms. Assets in these areas are generally more susceptible to damage," Pitcher wrote.
Hydro said each air flow spoiler costs about $173. Purchasing 9,000 of them will therefore cost around $1.6 million. However, once installation costs are factored in, a "rough estimate" from the Crown corporation pegs the total cost of the repairs at about $100,000 per span.
With repairs slated for 161 spans, the total cost comes in at around $16 million, although Hydro spokesperson Sara Sullivan said Monday, "We anticipate the actual final cost will be less than the rough estimates."
The bill will not be covered by insurance, given the new devices are an "enhancement to the original design," Sullivan said.
Hydro 'confident' in plan
While the link has so far been taken offline "at various times" in order to investigate turnbuckle problems, Hydro said neither issue affected its ability to serve island customers.
However, when link outages occur, Hydro continues to rely on the heavily polluting Holyrood Thermal Generation Station to meet electricity demand, buying and burning heavy oil at a plant that was supposed to close when Muskrat Falls came online.
Pitcher said that Holyrood will be in service "for a number of years" as backup power, allowing Hydro "the ability to address expected teething issues and also provide reliable service."
According to Pitcher, Hydro is "confident in the plan for strengthening the line as proposed."
"The four-year timeline is based on balancing production and managing risk," she wrote.
Not the only problems
The turnbuckle issues are not the only problems facing the Muskrat Falls project.
Hydro must also completely dismantle at least one of the four generating units at the Muskrat Falls dam. It also continues to face difficulties resolving a series of intractable issues related to the synchronous condensers at the Soldier's Pond switchyard.
The project's price tag hit $13.5 billion in June. When the provincial government gave Muskrat Falls the green light in 2012, the total cost including financing was reported as $7.4 billion.
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