Nanaimo Company Serves Clients Across North America
Gerry Westmacott, right, with Sturgeon Electric staff in front of the 145,000 volt switch gear at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona
NANAIMO – When Gerry Westmacott started TriPower Electrical Services Ltd. in 2002, he had no idea it would become one of the “most powerful” companies in Canada.
TriPower has become renowned as experts in European High Voltage Terminations, and as such, their services are in demand across North America. They have been staying closer to home of late due to COVID-related travel restrictions, but they’re busy nonetheless.
“We can perform virtually every type of cable fitting work, and I think we are the best in North America,” Westmacott states. “I believe that this was evident from our initial encounter with the German and Swiss manufacturers at Pfisterer and Ixosil – specialty manufacturers of HV connectors based in Germany and Switzerland, as they Invited us to further Increase our training, and initiated our becoming their trainers and installers for North America.”
TriPower’s portfolio includes services to the oil and gas, forestry, mining and marine industries, as well as renewable energy like solar and wind farms. Much of their work focuses on utility power, transmission and distribution.
Westmacott was well known in the electrical industry for his high voltage expertise prior to starting the company, particularly in HV cables splicing and terminating. Once he started his own company, word spread fast, and he was off and running.
“I had a lot of contacts in the industry so it took off quite quickly,” he recalls. “Most of the work was on the road. I remember one road trip was seven weeks long without a day off, between a couple of wind farms in Alberta, and the power dams on the Kootenay River.”
Specialty work became the company calling card after one phone call, upon which he was asked if TriPower could do Pfisterer high voltage pluggable connectors.
“I Googled Pfisterer and at the time they had 35 offices worldwide, but not in North America,” he notes. “So I phoned their office in England so I could speak English, then they told me to phone Germany, so I did. They spoke English better than we do, and I arranged some training, bought a plane ticket, and came back and did my first Pfisterer job, which was a wind farm in Dawson Creek.”
From there, Pfisterer invited Westmacott back to Germany, then Switzerland to upgrade his training for higher voltages up to 245,000 volts. They also made him their North American trainer, and they signed an Installer’s Agreement for North America with TriPower, which they still operate under today.
Since then, TriPower has been everywhere from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Anchorage, Alaska, and done installations for BC Hydro, American Electric Power, Tucson Electric Power, Alabama Power, EPCOR Alberta, Manitoba Hydro, KUA, Kissimmee FL., Fort Meade MD, INTEL, Toronto Hydro, NS Power, Potash Corp., Central Maine Power, Fort MacMurray, ABB Hitachi, Siemens, GE Alstom, and five jobs for PSE&G in New Jersey.
“One project of note we are very proud of was in 2012, when we were selected by Pfisterer, Ixosil and Riyadh Cables of Saudi Arabia to build a 170,000 volt test circuit at the Kinetrics test facility in Toronto,” Westmacott states. “It involved six different splices and terminations on a 4,000 kcml led-sheathed cable. It was tested for 30 days prior to certification to North America’s standards.”
TriPower is often called upon to do repairs and replacements on other installations for Pfisterer and Ixosil, and they also investigate faulty cables and take them apart when necessary. It is TriPower’s job to get the systems back up and running.
They added another specialty service in 2010.
“In 2011, we contracted the complete Installation and testing of 25,000 volt submarine power, and fiberoptic cables at Thetis Island, and also, we pulled up, repaired and spliced an existing power cable, and returned it into service at Hudson Island,” he notes. “In 2014, we also took it upon ourselves to travel down to North Carolina, and to get certified as installers for TYCO Energy, for up to 145,000 volts.”
TriPower is beginning the transition within the family, as Westmacott is passing the torch down to his son, Patrick, who is also a Trainer for Pfisterer and is also Certified to 245,000 Volt Installations.