PROJECT SUMMARY
The Government of Alberta recognized the need for additional electrical transmission infrastructure to support the growth of the oil sands in northern Alberta. The Alberta Electrical System Operator (AESO) requested competitive proposals to develop, own, and operate a 500 kV transmission line from Edmonton to Fort McMurray in northern Alberta.
OUR ROLE
Matrix was asked by one of the international conglomerates bidding on the project to provide environmental and GIS services for their submission to AESO. As part of the routing team, our environmental specialists and GIS database experts built a centralized data management platform for routing as well as analyzed and reported upon the constraint interactions for the 500 km transmission line.
CHALLENGES
The project required a dynamic system that our client could use to make informed decisions about engineering costs, and socio-economic, stakeholder, and environmental constraints.
OUTCOME
The data management, constraints analysis engine, and reporting systems established for our client reduced the required effort to produce routing constraint reports by up to 75%. Over the course of a 36 week sprint, approximately nine weeks of GIS time was saved, giving crucial time back in the hands of the decision makers. Our client was shortlisted in the competition and was proud of the work that went into their submission.
CLIENT
Confidential
MARKET
Power and electrical utilities
PROJECT LIFESPAN
18 months
We routinely lead characterization of stream morphology to:
- Assess fluvial erosion hazards
- Develop alternatives for erosion control in environmental assessments
- Develop management strategies as part of land use planning (subwatershed, secondary, tertiary plans and site plans)
- Assist in culvert/bridge design
- Define erosion thresholds to inform stormwater management