13 Mar A Second Wind

The Erie Shores 100 MW (megawatt) Wind Farm consists of 66 – 1.5 MW wind turbines, a 34.5 kV to 115 kV substation, a switching station, buried and aerial feeders and a fibre optics-based control facility. The project covers a narrow strip of farmland stretching a distance of approximately 30 kilometers centered near the community of Port Burwell, Ontario located on the North Shore of Lake Erie. The project is connected to the Hydro One Networks Inc. electrical grid at Tillsonburg, Ontario by a 115-kV transmission line approximately 30 kilometers in length.

In October 2005, SAE was commissioned to review and recommend changes to the then existing grounding system design. SAE’s review indicated that an insufficient amount of soil resistivity testing had been done to design an adequate grounding system. It became evident that the grounding at each wind turbine was inadequate. This was the result of there being no neutral conductor carried on the power lines between the wind turbine sites and the transformer substation. It was therefore decided that the preferred solution was the deployment of horizontally and vertically configured grounding designed specifically for each wind turbine site.

The SAE design was reviewed by the Ontario Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) and was subsequently approved. This resulted in the placement of a horizontal grounding systems at 31 of the wind turbine sites and a combination of horizontal and vertical grounding systems at 35 of the wind turbine sites.

Click here for the Grounding System Drawing.