10A PEACE POWER SOUVENIR EDITION

Wednesday, September 26, 1968

Housed in Control Building

‘Brains’ of the Project Installed

“Kiewit built the body,
Northern did the organs and
we did the brains,’’ is how
G,H, Sehuett describes the
work done on the Peace power
project by the consortium
known as Foundation Com-
stock, a joint venture of Foun-
dation Company of Canada and
Canadian Comstock.

The Kiewit consortium ac-
tually become part of the
Foundation Comstock joint
venture to enable the group to
get a fast start by eliminating
the need to build a separate
construction camp.

Foundation Comstock's

part of the job was construc-
tion of the control bullding, the
generator breaker and relay
buildings, the 500 and 138
-switchyards, the phase - bus
and lead shafts and the elec-
trical equipment and lights in
the powerhouse,

The group also did the grad-
ing and finishing of exterior
work near the control bulld-

ing, the lighting atop the dam |

and the contro] work in the
splilway and intake struc-
tures,

Schuett, now western dis-
trict manager of Foundation,
was project manager and first
Man on the $10 million job.

Their part of the work start-
ed Feb, 1, 1967, It is now 95
per cent complete and they
have until June 1969 to finish,
At peak they had about 475
men on the job, .

‘¢The only real problem was
the time,’ Schuett said. ‘but
by really getting at it we were
able to close tha contro! build-
ing in on time so that we were
able to proceed immediately
with the interior work during
the winter,"

He said the transformer~
shaped contro] building was a
challenge to build, The whole
structure Is supported on
eight columns “and if we were
only a half-inch out everything
would be out,”

The amount of underground
work was extraordinary, too,

Schuett thought — elevators,
cable tunnels and lead shafts,

Schuett pointed out that most
people do not realize that the
Peace dam is as far north as
it is, It is considerably fur-
ther north than the Churchill
Falls project in Labrador and

is, he thinks, the most north=

erly major power develop-
ment yet built in Canada.

This fact added to the chal-
lange of construction the chal-
lenge of 'the logistics of get-

ting men and materials in to

the area,”

Schuett had high praise for
the part played by Peace Pow-
er Constructors who handled
personnel. He said it was q
biz help t> all the contractors
to have a ‘third eye” to see
both the owners’ and the con-
tractors’ side of problems.

‘tas far as ]am concerned
they did a very good job under
what could have been very dif-
ficult conditions,’’ Schuett
said,

EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS

EMPLOYMENT:

Peak labor force (including transmission line worker's);

1964 — 1,400
1965 — 2,200
1966 — 4,300

Total annual payrolls:
1964 — $ 7.2 million
1965 — $12,3 million
1966 — $33,5 million

1967 — 4,850
1968 — 2,400

1967—~ $46.2 million
1968— $20.0 million
(estimated)

-

Lightning arresters in switchyard provide safe path te ground fo protect against possible lightning strikes.

carry

Ican Aluminum:
ing the power from |
_ the mighty Peace River

stranding aluminum transmission cable
peters “Uf = ils ra : foe i

From the beginning of the Peace River

damaging speed-up of generators from sudden loss of load.

Project, Alcan and aluminum have
played a key role.
‘All the transmission cable, designed
into this vast project, incorporates
aluminum produced in Kitimat from
power devetoped at Alcan's Kemano
generating station, In addition to supplying the. heavy power
demands of Kitimat, the Kemano generators service the power
requirements of Prince Rupert, Terrace and the Alice Arm areas.
When complete the Peace River Power Project will have

utilized over 14,000 miles of aluminum transmission cable; —

much of which will- have been produced in Alcan's Vancouver
fabricating plant, This involves some 20,000 tons. of aluminum
Aluminum was chosen because of its low cost, conductive
quaiites, light weight and ready availability. oy

”

Alean’s role.in British Columbia
industry is extensive and varied. Through-
out the province over 3,000 people
are employed in: the smelting, fabricat-
ing and marketing of aluminum, and
aluminum products.. Most-of the alu-

minum ingot smelted in the giant plant at -

Kitimat goes abroad, constituting one of b.C.'s large dollar earm-.
ing exports. Aluminum doors and windows, irrigation pipe and
thousands of miles of transmission. cable are produced in the
fabricating plants of Alcan’s Western Manufacturing Division.
Alcan even designs and builds homes. in the West and here on
the Coast, Alcan is filling:the aluminum, needs of more than a
hundred independent companies producing aluminum praducts.

_¢..: Alcan aluminum shows-up in everything from ‘aircraft to zip

. fasteners, from-trays'to transmission cabie.

"ALUMINUM COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED

1260 Vulean Way, Richmond, B.C. -

eh realy

Transformers in position in 500,000 volt system at Portage Mountain power switchyard... ;

Peete se Deel

7 oy

pee te aL

Braking resistor will provide artificial load in the event of transmission line failure to prevent