Transportation Partners & Logistics was recently awarded the bid to construct the Foote Creek Project, located in McFadden, Wyoming.
TP&L beat out multiple other firms in a bid to erect 11 4.2 megawatt Vestas Towers in the Foote Creek area.
“This is a full scope project, all underneath TP&L,” said Chase Pearson, an Operations Project Manager with Transportation Partners & Logistics.
Pearson will be managing the construction of the project, and it’s a job that he is more than suited for.
“I’ve always been in construction,” Pearson revealed. “Primarily new construction for wind farms. I ended up building a 2.2 million square foot industrial warehouse in Northern Minnesota the last couple of years, and then I joined back on with TP&L in January. I’ve known Justin and Jim [Orr] for years. I built a wind farm for Jim in 2016. We partnered with TP&L. They did the offload on a wind farm in Oklahoma, and I brought in a team and we did the erection and mechanical completion of 27 GE turbines.”
So, Pearson is no stranger to wind farm construction. He began working with TP&L in January and the Foote Creek Project is his primary focus.
Given the fact that the project is being built in Wyoming, a state known for its high winds, the project will take a couple of years to complete.
“There’s a short season with lower winds that allows for erection,” Pearson said. “So, we’ll split the roads and foundations in the summer of 2022 and then the erection portion and mechanical completion will fall in the best weather months, the summer of 2023.”
Mechanical completion, if all goes according to plan, should occur in the fall of 2023.
For Pearson, this project is the culmination of the many years of construction he’s performed. He was brought onto this project by Jim and Justin Orr because they knew he was the right man for the job. They knew that not only was he the right man, himself, but they knew that he would also build the right team to be able to construct this project with the same commitment of excellence that both TP&L and its sister company, GSS, are known for.
“I like to build successful project teams,” Pearson said. “And now, being able to drive this division and making sure that we put the right people in place, and making decisions that you’re gonna see come to fruition in the field in the next months and years to come is exciting. Finding the right fit for the opportunities we have at hand and making sure that we execute them to the fullest of our abilities is the primary goal.”
It’s a goal that will undoubtedly come to fruition, but one of Pearson’s other goals is to help others achieve the same level of success and notoriety that he has.
“When I was younger, the biggest thing was, maybe not ‘the glory,’ but being the best, ya know?” he asked. “But now, it’s about giving other people an opportunity; it’s about seeing the potential in somebody and helping them grow in their career.”
And that’s the definition of team work. Pearson hasn’t been with TP&L for a long time, but he’s already ingratiated himself and he’s proven that he belongs on the team, for the Foote Creek Project and any other project that may come up in the future. “I think what’s exciting about TP&L is that, as large as we are, we still keep it close knit and friendly,” Pearson stated. “I’ve been here for four and a half months and I’ve yet to hear a negative comment about a fellow employee. Everyone will jump in any day of the week to help somebody if they have questions, which is pretty unique. Especially with the owners we have, and our teammates across the different businesses; if you have a question, there’s somebody within TP&L that we can ask, and they’ll find a solution for it.”