John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project

June 2015

Community Construction Update Report #24

Prepared by: Stephen Watson, BC Hydro (O) 250-755-4795 or (C) 250-616-9888

steve.watson@bchydro.com

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Project Update And Schedule Project Status: • The first stage of powerhouse excavation is complete with

blasting and rock removal across the length (93m) of the cavern crown;

• Adit B (an alternate access off the service tunnel) has reached roughly 200 m in length and will be complete by early July;

• Main access tunnel blasting resumed with plans underway to deal with unconsolidated ground encountered last month;

• Intake earthworks underway on downstream side of John Hart dam for road access to the new water intake;

• Temporary soil nail wall and concrete infill below John Hart dam complete (right picture). This is part of preparation for water intake construction;

• 25 of 57 total piles drilled for cofferdam; and • Preparation for tailrace works by generating station

underway. Canyon View Trail re-routed.

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Action below the John Hart dam to prepare the site for the new water intake works.

Project Update And Schedule Project Schedule to December 2015: • July 12: John Hart Project Community Site Event; • February 2015 to 2016: Main access tunnel

excavation; • March-December 2015: Powerhouse vertical

excavation; • April 2015 to 2016: Intake access earthworks; • April-August 2015: Pile drilling for cofferdam

installation at dam site; • July: Demolition of existing warehouse behind

generating station (bottom right picture); • Late summer/early fall: Site preparation work will begin

for the new surge tank; • Late August: Tree removal near new tailrace; and • Fall/Winter 2015: Power tunnel excavation begins.

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The warehouse to be torn down generally includes the two loading bays, all the way out to the far side close to the trees.

New John Hart Project Video

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This new video to illustrate the underground design will be posted at the John Hart Project Interpretive Centre, and as of June 30, is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b5T5S7vx00. Some video screen shots are shown on this page.

Construction Pictures – Adit B

5 Drilling in the holes for Adit B.

Construction Pictures – Powerhouse Cavern

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Two pictures joined together to show the excavation along the crown or top of the powerhouse cavern. The process is to drill and blast down the centre line of the cavern and then “slash” on either side. The top of the cavern is curved, like the top of a mushroom.

Construction Pictures – Powerhouse Cavern

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Crews working on the last section of the powerhouse cavern. The picture on the next page shows the entire length of the powerhouse cavern (the yellow fabric pipe is ventilation). Rock will be removed downward for a total cavern height of about 40 metres.

Construction Pictures – Powerhouse Cavern

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Construction Pictures – Main Access Tunnel

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The end point of the main access tunnel.

Overview of Cofferdam and Intake Works

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Water release valve – flow down Elk Falls Canyon

Cofferdam

Water passage to tunnel

John Hart dam

Time Lapse Camera – John Hart Dam

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June 3 June 10

June 17 June 24

Construction Pictures – Downstream of John Hart Dam

12 Soil nail wall now complete.

Construction Pictures – Downstream of John Hart Dam

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Side profile of the soil nail wall, and workers protecting the concrete columns of the existing dam prior to intake work beginning. The area between the columns to the left and the concrete dam will be eventually filled in with concrete.

Construction Pictures – Cofferdam

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June 7 June 14

June 21 June 28

Construction Pictures – Pile Installation

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The piles within the earthfill side of the John Hart dam are complete, and the project is now moving along the reservoir/water section.

Tailrace Work Area

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The blue circles in each picture generally show the tree removals that will take place in late August after the bird nesting season is finished. The trees are primarily alders. This will then set the stage for the trailrace excavation.

Economic Update • As of June 2015: 194 project employees with 179 working in Campbell River; • Increasing number of carpenters, labourers during this period. Iron workers,

boilermakers in early 2016; • Worker-hours to date for the project: 410,000; • About 100 vendors on Vancouver Island used to supply services to the project,

with about 90 local companies provided/providing supplies/services to date. Some random examples of these companies:

• Windsor Mills, Ackland Grainger, Home Hardware, Windsor Lumber, Acme Concrete Pumping, Domcor, and A. Wood Bulldozing.

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Environment Update • New hard hat stickers! The popular awareness sticker

campaign has grown with a new print for project team members who save frogs, and other stickers for people who save a critter, save a snail and who take steps to protect water quality;

• Environmental planning underway for access to new surge tank site near the end of the woodstave penstock section, and tailrace works near the existing generating station;

• It’s deer fawning season. The project team has adapted their operations to give the newborns space, particularly when they’ve been left briefly by their mothers. Environment teams educated site workers about the behaviours of deer and their fawns so they could reduce disruption as much as possible. Near the Campbellton site office, a pair of twins were born (right picture).

• As tailrace work plans begin, water that was entering the paved area behind the generating station was identified as a potential challenge for tracking mud and debris from site. The construction of a simple curb has directed the water into a proper drain, reducing the effect of excess water in the surrounding area.

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Environment – Examples Of Wildlife Recovered And Move Off The Construction Site

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From left to right: a tree frog, garter snake, and western redback salamander. And no, the snake was not after the frog. More examples of the coveted wildlife stickers for worker hard hats.

• BC Hydro and InPower BC have nailed down the details of the first annual community event. Come and see the exciting work on this legacy project for Campbell River and BC Hydro.

• People will be required to catch a bus in downtown Campbell River on Shoppers Row, directly in front of Spirit Square.

• A John Hart project fridge magnet, shown below, will be provided to all visitors.

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John Hart Community Site Event – July 12

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People will enter the site and walk along the downstream side of the penstock crossing (blue arrow) to view the north side of the site and the main access tunnel portal, and then walk back along the upstream side of the penstock crossing to see the service tunnel portal area.

The construction site area is only accessible by bus. No cars or walking permitted on the 1 km-long Surge Tower Road. Traffic control will be in place.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Campbell River Arts Council And BC Hydro Partnership: The 2015 Banner Project

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Campbell River Arts Council And BC Hydro Partnership: The 2015 Banner Project

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People Profile – Derek Lynn About Derek: Background: Working with metal and mechanics has been a constant. From bike repairs to parts fabrication, Derek completed the BCIT motorcycle mechanic and welding tickets and focused his work on motorcycles before moving onto mining equipment. After a program at the Colorado School of Mines, he transitioned into maintenance and management for tunnel-boring machines on projects like the Seymour-Capilano ‘Twin Tunnels’ project and Energex in Squamish, before joining this project in September 2014.

Home: After growing up near Oakville, ON, Derek moved to the coast 20-years ago with the goal of becoming a mountain guide (which he did for five years). Work opportunities since then have moved him to a range of locations from Golden to Vancouver, and now Campbell River.

Hobbies: ‘Hobby’ may not be a strong enough word for what mountain biking is in Derek’s life. He’s raced, been a team mechanic for professional riders, reported from motocross events for magazines, and even owned and operated Two Forty Three Racing for 7 years, fabricating custom mountain bike parts with his business partner.

Project responsibility: As Mechanical Supervisor for Frontier-Kemper, Derek’s responsible for managing maintenance and repairs on the critical tunneling equipment required to keep the underground project work progressing. By managing a maintenance team of 12 people, Derek makes sure the equipment is ready to work well when it’s needed. Rather than a project perspective, Derek provides a broader life thought: “What screws us up the most in life is the picture in our head of how it is supposed to be.”

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Construction – Point of Interest Each month, BC Hydro and InPower BC will provide a construction fact, occurrence, or situation. • Indji Lightning Tracking Program

• On April 23, BC Hydro’s John Hart hydroelectric facility incurred a lightning strike and static activity that ultimately led to an unplanned Campbell River flow reduction. We have been looking at corrective actions to try to mitigate such events;

• BC Hydro’s power line side of the business uses a lightning detection program called Indji. With the ongoing risk at John Hart for downstream impacts to fish habitat until the John Hart project is complete around the end of 2018, the generation side of the business is now utilizing the Indji program since April 2015 to help provide advanced warning of regional lightning activity;

• Indji allows BC Hydro staff at John Hart to track lightning storms. Should a lightning storm be found within a 20 kilometre radius of John Hart, BC Hydro staff will immediately initiate precautionary actions at the site to mitigate potential water intake gate closures to the three penstocks that lead to the powerhouse; and

• How does it work? The system uses existing cell towers to correlate and nail down exact locations of the strikes. It then overlays information on BC Hydro’s power line locations.

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Example of Indji detected lightning strikes in the BC Interior. Green crosses are close to a BC Hydro facility or transmission line, with the purple ones being general lightning strikes.