At the end of December 2019, the Muskrat Falls Oversight Committee added development of alternate protection and control software for the high voltage direct current transmission system – that is, the Labrador-Island Link - to its list of risks the committee is monitoring for potential added project costs.
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| Alternate software and syncronous condensers are major project cost risks. |
The reasons for the concern are contained in the section
of the report on a visit by the Independent Engineer to the software
development team:
“While the
plan still shows expected completion of the factory acceptance tests (FAT) by
June 9th, 2020, there is little confidence that the target will be met.
Progress velocity remains in risk category ‘red’.”
The report
received by the oversight committee in late February 2020 also noted that the
number of “outstanding bugs that will be identified/ remedied at later stages
presents an unknown risk to Project schedule and S/W [software?] performance.”
The
Independent Engineer’s site visit to the GE development team also observed that
“GE’s project plan does not include full regression testing of the completed
software release or provides time allowance for bug fixes between the project
phases. That raises a question if that approach will ensure full functionality
of this critical component.”
The Independent Engineer was supposed to do a site
visit in the first quarter of 2020, but COVID-19 forced postponement. In the report on this period received by the
oversight committee on 15
June 2020, the committee noted that the software development and schedule
remained a “key project risk.”
The Q1 2020 report also noted problems with another,
unrelated issue: “Soldiers
Pond synchronous condensers vibration and binding issues root cause and remediation
remain ongoing. When Unit 3 bearings and housing were removed corrosion and
damage was [sic] observed.”
At the recent annual general meeting, Nalcor chief
executive Stan Marshall apparently made no mention of the ongoing difficulties
with the P and C software and the synchronous condensers. Media
reports just talked about the impact of COVID-19 that forced closure of the
work site for a couple of months.