Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall says the team working on on-going software issues for the Labrador-Island Link (LIL) needed a break for the holidays.
Nalcor filed an update with the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities on Friday, extending the deadline for software needed to manage electricity flowing from Labrador to the island portion of the province. It’s not the first time the timeline for delivering the software to Nalcor to allow for testing has been extended.
Originally, GE Grid was due to deliver an interim version of the software by Dec. 20. In a Nov. 29 letter to the PUB, Nalcor extended the deadline to Jan. 19, 2020.
On Friday, Nalcor gave GE Grid another extension for the interim software, now expected on Feb. 2, 2020.
Marshall says the company has been working hard to deliver the software, but the contractors need a break for the holidays.
“GE has been working hard on this thing for the last several months. We’re coming into Christmas. They’ve made progress, a lot of progress, but not as much progress as they hoped,” Marshall told the Telegram on Friday.
“I think the staff is being pressed right now and they need a little break for Christmas, frankly. After a while you push too hard, it’s counterproductive.”
The extension has a ripple effect on the deadlines for testing the software, moving delivery of the final version of the software from June 1 to June 9, 2020. The final round of testing was due to be completed on July 1, 2020, but has been granted an extension to July 16, 2020.
Marshall says the delays will not have an impact on the overall cost and schedule for the project at this time.
“Until you get into late 2020, it’s all taken care of. When you get late 2020, you get into real concerns,” he said. “We’re making progress.”
Other concerns also plague the destination for the electricity from the Muskrat Falls generation station: Soldiers Pond. As reported Wednesday, concerns over vibrations at one of the synchronous condensers at the Soldiers Pond site remain unresolved. During testing an “unacceptable” vibration was detected at the Unit 3 condenser. Ontario Power Group has been hired by Nalcor to investigate the issues.
Marshall says it appears bearings needed to help the condensers spin at 900 RPM are the root of the issue, but there could be multiple factors.
“It’s confirming we should be focusing on the bearings and do some bracing for the unit. That gives me some comfort that we’re on the right track,” said Marshall.
“In these situations, generally speaking, there’s more than one thing going on. As you solve one, you tend to mitigate another. We’ll chip away at that in January. The big one will be when the new bears or re-done bearings come back and we put those on.”
Also in Friday’s filing to the PUB, Nalcor says Andritz Hydro, which took over work on the generating station at Muskrat Falls when Astaldi Canada was removed from the site, did not meet its “Ready to Turn” milestone with the Unit One generator before the holiday shutdown. That milestone will be hit in January, according to the report.
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