Higgins Mountain Wind Turbine Foundations
Elemental Energy
Stuart Olsen
2025
The Higgins Mountain Wind Turbine project, located in northern Nova Scotia, features the installation of multiple large-scale wind turbines supported by robust concrete foundations. Each turbine is anchored on a circular spread footing foundation designed to resist significant overturning forces caused by wind loads. These foundations typically consist of reinforced concrete pads up to 20 metres in diameter and over 2 metres thick, with heavily reinforced central pedestals to support the turbine towers.
The remote and mountainous terrain posed significant logistical challenges, including difficult access, variable subsurface conditions, and strict environmental constraints. Foundation construction required extensive excavation, high-precision formwork, and complex rebar installation to meet structural demands. Coordination of concrete deliveries and sequencing of pours was critical, given the scale and remote location. The resulting foundations provide a stable and durable base capable of supporting turbines over 120 metres tall, ensuring long-term performance under Nova Scotia’s harsh climatic conditions.
The foundation system consists of an 18 metre diameter reinforced concrete pad anchored directly to bedrock using a circular array of 18-metre long post tensioned rock anchors. These anchors were pressure-grouted to ensure full bond with the rock substrate and then tensioned to forces exceeding 2,000 kN each. This anchoring system provides critical resistance to the substantial overturning moments generated during both regular operation and emergency shutdowns of the 120-metre tall wind turbine generators (WTGs). The design ensures long-term stability and performance under extreme wind loads, while accommodating the dynamic forces typical of utility-scale wind energy infrastructure.
