Cost overruns at a natural gas liquefaction plant south of Squamish, touted as a first-of-its-kind energy project because of its use of electricity to power its turbines, have ballooned its price tag to US$8.8 billion from an initial estimate of $5.1 billion.

Woodfibre LNG quietly revealed the extent of the rising costs as it prepared to mark the halfway point of construction this week with the delivery of four more of its prefabricated production plant modules to its site seven kilometres south of Squamish on Howe Sound.

The company cited a list of key cost drivers: remediation of the almost 100-year-old pulp mill site, geotechnical complexities, construction inflation, the logistics of marine transportation of materials and workers and “best-in-class” environmental monitoring co-design

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