OEM Use of StormStrong^® Piles Redefines Utility Foundation Infrastructure

FASTepc is an engineering, procurement and construction company that specializes in transformative designs that respond to persistent infrastructural challenges. One of their products helps redefine transmission and distribution (T&D) project timelines and costs for deep foundations.

Transmission line foundations are especially important to prevent differential movement, bearing failure and environmental resistance and to provide long-term stability to the enormous structures that carry some of the heaviest power loads on our grids.

T&D foundations often take the form of a steel or concrete pile for land use or a hollow caisson for use in water. Due to its low initial cost, concrete with metal rebar tends to be the most common choice.

But delays are common for concrete-based projects, and costs can quickly spiral out of control, especially in areas where the soil is loose and wet. FASTepc was approached by a utility customer in a southern U.S. state that needed to install 500kv H-frames during a time of year with an average temperature of 90°F (32.2°C) and 100% humidity. Their soil is largely peaty, sandy and wet. “We hear it all the time: ’Concrete’s cheap,’” said Tim Bronish, Chief Executive Officer, FASTepc. “Yeah, that bag of concrete is cheap. But with those soil and weather conditions plus change orders, that project might run 30 to 40% over the gross ticket amount.”

Situations like these inspired FASTepc to seek a partner to help them achieve their vision to create fast-installing, custom deep foundations that overcome the limitations of conventional options.

Walking around Jacksonville, Florida, FASTepc Chief Development Officer Mac Pope spotted the Saint Johns River Ferry coming into port, guided in by a series of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) pipe piles. A light bulb went off in his head. If this inherently corrosion-resistant material can handle the huge mass of a ferry and still spring back AND can be driven down into the sea floor without rotting, why couldn’t those same huge pilings be used on land as deep foundations? He knew his team could design it; he just needed an FRP manufacturing partner that could produce the design-build product with consistently excellent results and reasonable lead times.

Pope learned the piles were made by Creative Composites Group (CCG) and reached out with their idea. “Once we met with CCG and saw their capabilities and manufacturing facility, it was a no-brainer to partner with them,” Bronish recalled. “We knew their engineers were as high-end and professional as ours. They have everything under one roof to meet our demand.”

CCG ticked every box:

• Full OEM capabilities support FASTepc’s design-build requirements, delivering the pile diameter, length and amounts each job requires as well as the “shark fins” and “wings” characteristic to FASTepc’s FAST PILE SYSTEM^™
• Completely U.S.-sourced and U.S.-made, such that everything is traceable, down to the bolts and resin, meets BABA and experiences fewer supply chain disruptions and impacts from tariffs
• Industry-leading and testing-supported reputation for quality, strength and longevity to support a game-changing approach to deep foundations

The partnership with CCG led to FASTepc’s FAST PILE SYSTEM, a design-build FRP alternative to concrete deep foundations. Unlike concrete, FASTepc’s FAST PILE SYSTEM is vacuum infused at CCG’s Dayton facility in two pieces, bolted and bonded and then delivered to the installation site as one pile. FASTepc also partners with Terracon, using its extensive geotechnical data to determine the type of resistance the pile is likely to encounter as it is driven into the earth. With this data, a team of three and a single MOBILRAM-System can install one pile system in just minutes—a significant reduction from the months-long process with crews of dozens common to conventional installs. Quipped Bronish, “About as quickly as you can get it off the truck is about as quickly as we can have it installed.”

Successes to date include:

• A 35-foot-long pile was installed in Florida in just 12 minutes.
• A Corpus Christi, Texas, project installed 52 piles in just 17 days.
• Pilot projects with two of the largest utility providers and one of the largest general contractors in the coastal Southeast and Pacific Northwest.