Borea Construction is a leading name in Canada’s renewable energy sector. The diversified engineering, procurement, and construction contractor delivers construction solutions for the power industry, providing unique expertise to clients throughout the nation.
With decades of experience building all-scale energy solutions, the company has completed more renewable energy construction projects in Canada than any other contractor. In fact, the team has constructed more than 6 500 MW of renewable energy throughout the country—that is one third of the entire Canadian market!
Experience is a critical factor in Borea’s success, with knowledge of wind and solar construction gained over many years on the job and processes improved based on lessons learned. This solid foundation enables the company to maintain high standards and deliver quality solutions. It also allows it to meet challenges on the go, realigning operations quickly and putting new solutions into action right away.
Building on its leading-edge expertise is its full-service approach. Borea provides complete engineering, procurement, and construction services for all its utility-scale wind and solar construction projects.
Experienced employees handle most tasks themselves, rather than contracting out, ensuring that the company maintains control of a project from beginning to end. This hands-on approach ensures costs and schedules stay where they need to be.
Borea’s company culture is supportive, emphasizing a close-knit, family environment, where employees feel a sense of belonging and pride. Staff members face new challenges as a team, connecting with one another and working together closely to achieve their goals.
“I found a second family and an environment full of possibilities,” says Administrative Assistant Nancy Riendeau. “I am proud to be part of this great dynamic team and to contribute to the growth of Borea. I have been working at Borea for almost eight years, and I still love my job. The family values are very present within the company, and the caring of everyone makes our work environment very pleasant and stimulating.”
Riendeau and her colleagues are passionate about what they do, and it shows. Their enthusiasm for their work is evident in the company’s mission: delivering renewable energy with care. This care has caught the attention of others in the field, creating long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with clients, subcontractors, suppliers, and the communities where Borea works.
The company believes it is important to work together with the community where it operates and makes it a point to do so. This collaboration takes on a number of forms, from charity events to environmental initiatives and reciprocal business-to-business relationships. One of the key goals of these alliances is to leave a lasting, positive impact on all stakeholders at the end of every project.
After partnering with Borea, clients typically work with the company again and again on additional projects. As a result, it has completed more than seventy projects nationwide. One of the company’s most notable wind projects involved the construction of the Golden South Wind Farm in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, which required fifty wind turbines totalling 200 MW.
The company also built the Whitla Wind Project Phase I, located within the County of Forty Mile. This project included fifty-six wind turbines for a total of 201.6 MW. Borea will follow up this year with the Whitla Wind Project Phase II and Phase III, which will require forty-two wind turbines totalling 151.2 MW.
One of the company’s most notable solar jobs is the Suffield Solar Project along the Trans-Canada Highway in Alberta. The project is the first in Alberta using bifacial modules – modules with solar cells on both the front and back to gather reflected light energy – and single-axis trackers and includes 90K solar panels with a total production capacity of 23 MWac / 32 MWp. The massive solar park can power around 7,400 homes per year.
In 2020, Borea built the first solar project in Quebec. The job comprised two sites: La Citière and IREQ Solar Projects, which combined 30,360 solar panels to produce 11.8MW.
Borea is eager to recruit the best and brightest in the industry as the business grows. It provides a rewarding work environment in a challenging, face-paced industry, where interns and employees can put into practice the theoretical knowledge learned in school. The company lets these young minds get involved as key players from the time they first set foot on a wind or solar farm. Employees can contribute in their own way by learning the nuts and bolts of project management.
From contact with subcontractors to planning and monitoring project progress and collaborating in meetings, employees all have a role to play in the success of the company’s construction projects. The opportunity to grow and learn follows employees throughout their tenure with the company, keeping them motivated and engaged.
The future of the company and the industry as a whole looks bright. With concerns over the environmental impacts of carbon and global warming, the emphasis on building sustainable and renewable energy continues to gain ground throughout the world. As a result, business has been booming in many areas of Canada and the United States in recent years. Solar energy is now the cheapest energy to produce, making it an ideal energy source of the future.
Borea’s vision for the future is to help more communities by building renewable energy with quality and care, and it is already well on its way to achieving this goal. Over the last few years, the company has doubled in size and projects. While construction always involves risks and unknowns, the team is very optimistic that the wind and solar industry will continue to be robust, and Borea will continue to be at the forefront of that industry to deliver leading-edge solutions.
