A really tall lab will soon dominate the landscape at Red Deer College.
On Wednesday, the city’s municipal planning commission gave unanimous approval for construction of a drilling rig with a 21-metre derrick as a training lab for students in its rig technician and other programs.
Besides providing training for students in the rig technician program, the derrick can also be used for safety and high-angle rescue training, said Michael Donlevy, vice-president, community relations for the college.
Work on a permanent foundation for the rig has already begun with plans to raise the derrick on Monday or Tuesday so it will be in place for a commemoration ceremony and further announcements set for Friday, June 17, said Donlevy.
To be located just northeast of the trade and technology area, the rig will include an operational power unit, known in the industry as draw works, although it will not do any actual drilling, college staff told the planning commission, chaired by Mayor Morris Flewwelling.
Flewwelling said afterward that the rig is an appropriate addition for the college because of Red Deer’s role in the oil and gas industry.
“Oil and gas is a major economic engine in our area and it will do no harm for people to see an oil derrick, especially people from away, because people from away don’t always know where they can see an oil derrick,” said Flewwelling.
Although security fencing will be erected to keep intruders out of the site, people will be able to come onto campus for a closer look, he said.
City Councillor Paul Harris, also on the planning commission, said he would like to see a wind turbine and other green energy options erected alongside the rig.
Donlevy said the rig and power plant were donated by High Arctic Well Services while site work has been provided by other local companies, including Roll’n Oilfield Industries, Group 2 Architecture Engineering, Studon Electric and Controls and DFI, a piling contractor based in Burnt Lake Industrial Park.
Donlevy estimated the total value of the donations at more than $250,000.
Conditions in the planning commission’s approval include a requirement that the rig bear no signs or advertising.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com