Wind farm concrete supply proves successful reduced-carbon option

AUGUST 2020, ASSINIBOIA, SK: The Golden South Wind Project (the Project) is located immediately south and east of the Town of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, approximately 175 kilometres southwest of Regina in the Rural Municipalities of Lake of the Rivers and Stonehenge.

The Project has been in development since 2009 and is located within approximately 34,000 acres of leased agricultural land. The Project will consist of 50 turbines, an underground electrical collection system, a transformer substation, meteorological towers, operations and maintenance building, new access roads and upgrading of some existing roads. Each turbine stands 110 metres (m) tall, and, upon completion, Golden South will generate enough electricity to power 90,000 Saskatchewan homes.

Wind turbines require significant support to manage their massive height and pressure. Lafarge Canada's Technical & Development Centre, located in Edmonton, AB, had the expertise and methodology to provide reduced-carbon concretes with the same high performance qualities. Lafarge engineers designed and pre-qualified mix designs focused on compressive strength, carbon reduction and thermal control of the concrete. Once mix designs were verified, our technical experts remained available to monitor performance throughout the project, making adjustments to optimize materials and processes when required.

With a focus on maximizing performance and reducing carbon, the team supplied almost 23,000 m3 of reduced-carbon concretes by including GUL cement in the concrete mixes. Subsequently, we achieved carbon reduction of 41.4 kg/m3 over the course of the project - resulting in a total CO2 reduction of 1,035 tonnes. This is equivalent to taking 225 cars off the road for one year! 

Thanks to our technical expertise, as well as the determination to reduce carbon in all aspects of our operations, Lafarge Canada has become the premier supplier for Canadian windfarm projects. Our digital innovations and culture of health and safety ensure that projects are managed efficiently and with minimized health and safety impacts.