President Choi Chi-hun of Samsung C&T Co.

Samsung Construction & Technology (Samsung C&T) said recently that the company and its consortium have been named as the priority bidder for the Site C Dam Project estimated to cost $1.5 billion by the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority. 

The hydroelectric power dam will have a capacity to generate 1,100 kw in British Columbia, Canada. Samsung C&T participated in the bidding as a member of consortium with Petrowest of Canada, and Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc., a Canadian subsidiary of the Spanish construction company. The Korean consortium partner takes up a 37.5 percent share of the project estimated to be worth $490 million. 

The official contract for the project is to be signed after working out the details by the end of this year.

Peace River Hydro Partners, which includes Petrowest, Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc. and Samsung C&T Canada Ltd, will undertake the $8.3 billion contract, which is the largest single contract for construction on the $9 billion Site C project.

The contract includes:

- Approximately 32 million cubic meters excavation for structures, including the approach channel and tailrace;

- River diversion works, including construction of two 10.8-meter internal diameter concrete-lined tunnels between 700 meters to 800 meters in length, and associated cofferdams and intake and outlet structures;

- Earthfill dam — central core zoned earth embankment approximately 1,050 meters long and 60 meters above the present river level;

- A roller-compacted concrete buttress — approximately 800 meters in length to a maximum height of 70 meters;

- Significant ancillary work such as a permanent network of site roads, site drainage and debris handling facilities;

This phrase of the project is expected to commence the first week of January 2016.

The $8.3 billion Site C Clean Energy Project is the third dam, reservoir and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River, approximately 7 km southwest of Fort St. John in northeast B.C. Part of the project includes the realignment of six sections of Highway 29 over a distance of 30 km. The project is expected to create 10,000 direct jobs during construction. Approved by the Province of British Columbia on Dec. 16, 2014, construction of the project began last summer with completion estimated to be in 2024.

The BC Hydro and Power Authority is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia, generally known simply as BC Hydro. It is the main electric distributor, serving 1.8 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the City of New Westminster, where the city runs its own electrical department and the Kootenay region, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc. directly provides electric service to 213,000 customers and supplies municipally owned utilities in the same area. As a provincial Crown corporation, BC Hydro reports to the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, and is regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC). It is mandated to provide "reliable power, at low cost, for generations."

BC Hydro operates 31 hydroelectric facilities and three natural gas-fueled thermal power plants. As of 2014, 95 per cent of the province's electricity was produced by hydroelectric generating stations, which consist mostly of large hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Peace Rivers. BC Hydro's various facilities generate between 43,000 and 54,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, depending on prevailing water levels. BC Hydro's capacity is about 11,000 megawatts.

Electricity is delivered through a network of 18,286 kilometers of transmission lines and 55,254 kilometers of distribution lines. For the 2013-2014 fiscal year, the domestic electric sales volume was 53,018 gigawatt hours, revenue was $5.392 billion and net income was $549 million.

A bird’s eye view of the Site C Hydropower Dam Project over Peace River in British Columbia, Canada, which will be built by Samsung C&T and members of its consortium.(Photos:Samsung C&T)