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Mortenson Construction to Shrinks Wind Farm Footprint

Mortenson Construction to Shrinks Wind Farm Footprint
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Mortenson Construction to Shrinks Wind Farm Footprint - 1

CASE STUDY Project Summary Organization: Mortenson Construction Location: Ely, Nevada, United States Project Objective: • Construct Nevada’s first utility-scale wind farm on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property. • Minimize disturbance of cultural, historical, and biological resources on federal land. • Model each stage of construction to optimize equipment layout and reduce the footprint of the 66 turbines. Products used: Bentley Map®, Bentley View®, InRoads Suite, MicroStation® Fast Facts • The model provided a visual tool for communicating daily action plans to the field. • Project construction affected 312 acres but left a permanent footprint of just 80 acres. • Spring Valley Wind generates 151.8 megawatts, enough power for 45,000 homes, offsetting the annual equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions from 52,000 cars. ROI • The design reduced each turbine site by 1.1 acres – nearly 40 percent of the original disturbance area approved by the BLM. • Teardrop-shaped laydown sites saved 77 acres from disturbance. • Round foundation holes removed 25 percent less dirt and placed the spoil pile closer to the hole, saving time and money. • Changing a design to mitigate biological disturbances took less than one day using InRoads vs. several days without a model. InRoads® Modeling Enables Mortenson Bentley InRoads Construction to Shrink Wind Farm Footprint ® Powerful tools for the design of civil infrastructure by Designing Spring Mortenson Minimizes Disturbance of Federal Land Valley Wind Project Using Bentley Software 3D Modeling Helps Overcome Unique Project Challenges Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction was enlisted to build the USD 225 million Spring Valley Wind project, a 152-megawatt wind farm with 66 turbines located 30 miles east of Ely, Nevada, United States, on 7,673 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property. Although Mortenson has constructed more than 125 wind farms across North America, the project presented the unusual challenge to tread lightly on a culturally, historically, and biologically sensitive site. Bentley software helped Mortenson to minimize ground-disturbing activities by reducing each turbine footprint by 40 percent and helped the project team improve communication among project stakeholders, which led to a stronger, more collaborative relationship with the BLM and, in turn, will set the stage for future work Mortenson performs on BLM land. Working Within Disturbance Limits The first utility-scale wind farm in Nevada and the first to be built on federal land, Spring Valley Wind runs north-south for about 110 miles between Schell Creek and the Snake Range mountains in eastern Nevada. The precedent had been set previously for wind farms on federal land, but at the time none were commercial grade. This project presented the opportunity to generate 151.8 megawatts, enough power for 45,000 homes. On the Spring Valley Wind project, Mortenson was responsible for design and construction of the 66 wind turbines, associated site access roads, underground collection system, switch yard, 230-kilovolt substation, an operations and maintenance building, and meteorological tower. A temporary laydown yard, concrete batch plant, and gravel pits were also part of the project. The challenge was to erect the 80-meter-tall, 306-ton turbines within the limited disturbance area approved by the BLM. With more than 245 million acres of federal land in its care, the BLM is the nation’s largest land manager. During project construction, cultural monitors were engaged to observe all land-disturbing activities, and identify and classify any Mortenson was able to minimize ground-disturbing activities by reducing turbine footprint by 40 percent. historical or cultural finds within the construction zone. Any time land was cleared or excavated, the monitors had to give approval for work to proceed. Mortenson determined that minimizing the size of each turbine site would reduce land disturbance, lower cultural monitoring costs, and reduce the risk of work stoppage due to cultural or biological finds. Modeling the Optimal Site Plan Mortensen used InRoads Suite to model the entire project, through each stage of construction for all 66 turbine sites. Bentley’s civil engineering road and transportation infrastructure design software provided complete drafting capabilities, powerful mapping tools, and design automation critical to the project. The models incorporated access routes and staging areas for delivery vehicles, trucks, cranes, and individual pieces of equipment. Part laydown and equipment configuration were optimized for each site. Mortenson engaged superintendents and lead foremen in the process to ensure that the design assumptions were accurate and that the layouts were workable. Using InRoads, Mortenson was able to shave 77 acres from the project and minimize the disturbance of cultural, historical, and biological resources. The model also made it possible to make design changes as situations arose in the field. Protecting wildlife was a priority, and the BLM required

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Mortenson Construction to Shrinks Wind Farm Footprint - 2

“Bentley’s solutions reduced the project footprint, the amount of field time spent being delayed by environmental, biological and cultural conflicts,and also improved communication amongst the stake holders, which led to a stronger more collaborative relationship with the BLM land managers. This set the stage for future work Mortenson performs on BLM land.” — Sera Maloney, Integrated Construction Manager, Mortenson Construction Find out about Bentley at: www.bentley.com Contact Bentley 1-800-BENTLEY (1-800-236-8539) Outside the US +1 610-458-5000 Global Office Listings...

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