Bluestone Wind Farm

The Details

As the EPC contractor, The Wesson Group performed all civil, foundations, and electrical collection scopes of work on this project, located in a complex area that had no previous history of wind farm construction prior to this project. We leveraged our many local resources, knowledge of this sensitive geographical area, and experience in all aspects of civil and electrical wind farm design and construction in order to assist our client and bring this project to completion. 

Scope of Work

• Civil, electrical, and foundation engineering

• 300 acres of clearing & grubbing

• All earthwork required to construct the facility

• 71,000 LF of access road construction, complete with all associated infrastructure

• All erosion & sediment control installation, maintenance, and removal through the life of the project

• Installation of 26 complete WTG foundations 

• Complete electrical collection & fiber system installation, termination, and testing including 190,000 LF of cable trenching

• Construction of a temporary batch plant onsite to support foundation installation

• All public turning improvements (installation and removals)  to support component deliveries

• Component delivery support including MPT along the project route

• O&M facility construction

The Challenge

Bluestone Wind Farm is situated along ridge-tops, resulting in a significant amount of bedrock present throughout the site. 89% of all turbine foundations/sites required blasting. TWG performed 13,000 LF of 10” HDPE directional drilling underneath Oquaga Creek and State Route 41. As an NYS trout stream, it was imperative that our HDD operations were designed so as to not impact Oquaga Creek as we completed the bores. Considering the 650’ elevation gain from the entry pit to the exit pit, careful consideration was given to the equipment and methods utilized that resulted in no impacts to the stream or surrounding resources.

The Result

To ensure the least amount of impact and maintain the project schedule, we were able to design our roadways to minimize the amount of additional blasting that would have otherwise been required to construct the majority of roads. Due to the project’s geographic location, we were unable to utilize local concrete suppliers as the primary means of concrete production for the project’s turbine foundations. We established an onsite batch plant in the centrally-located laydown area for the site, and we successfully poured 18,500 CY of various concrete mixes to complete the project on time within one construction season. 200,000 hours without a lost-time incident achieved.