End of 2020 sees Kitimat Meter Station construction advance to near completion; gratitude shared with community
The end of the Coastal GasLink pipeline is marked by the Kitimat Meter Station, a facility that will measure natural gas to be delivered to the LNG Canada plant, and at the end of 2020, construction of this facility will be mostly complete.
“The Wilde Lake Compressor station has been compared as the ‘beating heart’ for Coastal GasLink. If that’s the case, then the Kitimat Meter Station takes the pulse,” jokes Matthew Shanks, project manager for the metering station.
While Wilde Lake facility construction is just beginning, Kitimat Meter Station construction is nearly complete.
“We began construction in June working with our prime contractor, Aecon. Over the past five months, we’ve worked through a lot of wet weather, held a groundbreaking ceremony in August, and made significant construction progress. In fact, we’ve now completed five of the seven stages of facility construction, finishing with pipe installation.”
The work was completed with no reportable safety incidents over 36,000 person-hours and an excess of 61,000 km driven by the almost 60-person workforce.
“A big highlight was the final weld on the meter station piping performed near the end of November. With that complete, we will now take a pause on Kitimat Meter Station construction activities on the facility until we return for pressure testing the pipe, scheduled for the second quarter of 2021. In the meantime, we will construct the powerline infrastructure for the station.”
Environmental considerations and community giving punctuate facility work
Over the course of construction, significant effort was made to protect the environment, including relocating approximately 40,000 tadpoles locally for safe maturing.
Additionally, the team formed relationships with the District of Kitimat community, participating in volunteer activities such as a river clean-up. The team also raised money for the Kitimat Food Bank and the Tamitik Status of Women organizations, which was matched by TC Energy as well as Aecon Group for a $12,400 donation, divided equally between the two groups.
Keep up with Coastal GasLink construction developments by reading our monthly construction updates.
