By Lynda Myer
As one of Acciona’s largest projects in Canada, construction of the Site C dam was completed by the Peace River Hydro Partners consortium (PRHP), which is a partnership between Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc and Samsung C&T Canada Ltd, while in 2015 the project’s contract with C$2.63bn (US$1.93bn) was awarded to this company by BC Hydro.
In order to digging two twin tunnels with 800m length and each with an 11m diameter for diverting the river, the PRHP used road headers, whereas the tunnels were then lined with concrete and over than 100m3 of earth was moved in total.
Additionally, building of the earthen dam and the roller-compacted concrete dam was up to PRHP.
Following completion of the Site C Clean Energy Project in 2025, which is one of the largest infrastructure initiatives in Canada, it is due to provide energy to a population equivalent to 450,000 homes or 1.7 million electric vehicles per year in British Columbia.
Applying an earth movement platform and GPS machinery tracking to optimize routes and fuel consumption, as well as construction processes such as a 5km conveyor belt rather than lorries to transport soil, PRHP employed several measures to decrease the project’s carbon footprint during the construction process. As PRHP stated, in 2022 alone these measures avoided the generation of more than 10,000 tons of CO2.
Recycling a variety of materials at two processing centers on site which produced revenue used to fund community investment programs, Site C has also focused on the circular economy.
PRHP is a partnership between ACCIONA Infrastructure Canada Inc. and Samsung C&T Canada Ltd. The main civil work contract includes the construction of an earth-fill dam, two diversion tunnels, and a roller-compacted–concrete foundation for the generating station and spillways.
