Moving can be a challenge, especially if you have to find creative ways to get large items past small doorways. Our crews faced this a hurdle at the Cavalier substation on Portage Avenue in Winnipeg, but on a much larger scale.
A huge switchgear building, dating back to the 1960’s, was removed to make way for a modern replacement. And it wouldn’t go easily.
“It’s a bit of a ballet because the building is too wide to fit through the gate. So, we’ve got a 60-ton crane inside the station to lift the building onto the tractor trailer,” said Rob Znidarec, Project Engineer, explaining the first step in the move.
A crane hoists the switchgear building on to a trailer within the substation.
The tractor trailer then hauled the 25,000-pound item a short distance to the substation’s gate facing Portage Avenue. Next step: since it won’t fit through the gate, lift it over.
The switchgear building is lifted over Cavalier Station’s gate to a trailer waiting on the other side.
“Outside the gate, we have a 90-ton crane to lift that switchgear building up again, over the gate as the tractor trailer pulls through, and to drop it back onto the trailer outside the gate.”
Workers guide the suspended switchgear building on to the truck trailer
Why not take the switchgear building apart and remove it in smaller pieces? That would have required remediation of hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead on-site, potentially adding weeks or months to the project.
“We were able to find a nice turnkey solution – the contractor removed this contaminated equipment off-site for remediation, allowing us to buy back a whole bunch of time to do construction work here on site,” said Rob.
With so many moving parts and high voltage lines nearby, safety was the top priority.
“It’s a huge job. It’s an urban station, so the real estate is limited, with lots of traffic just outside the station. It took a lot of coordination work. We had multiple tail board meetings throughout the day to ensure everyone understood the work, their roles, the hazards, and the safety precautions. The team’s been doing a great job to ensure it all happened safely,” said Rob.
The new switchgear building will arrive in December and go into operation next year.
The Cavalier refurbishment is expected to cost $13 million and is just one project in the Distribution Station Metal-Clad Switchgear Program: a collection of projects focusing on mitigation of safety risks to our workers and reliability risks to customers due to aging metal-clad switchgear.
The program involves 42 distribution substations — 41 in Winnipeg and one in Brandon, either replacing old metal-clad switchgear with new equipment or converting the voltage and serving the electrical load from other area stations.
“The number one benefit is safety. This switchgear building was built in the early 60s. It’s no longer safe to work on,” said Rob. “Number two is reliability. Breakers in these old switchgear buildings have been failing, which puts our staff at risk, and affects our customer service for residents and businesses that rely on the power provided by this station.”
The switchgear building was hauled away from the site with a police escort to help the wide load carefully make its way along city streets.
