Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, January 16, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 58 per cent across the board since 1990, the company recently announced.

The company credits its use of hydro power as a major factor in the reduction.

An aerial view of Snare falls, part of the larger Snare Hydro System that provides approximately 30 megawatts of hydroelectricity to the Yellowknife area. NWT Power Corp has reduced C02 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 58 per cent since 1990. - photo courtesy of NWT Power Corporation

"Hydro is clean, whereas diesel and natural gas produce emissions because you're burning them," said Shawn Clarke, an environmental analyst with the Power Corp.

"The less we can use diesel and the more we can use hydro, the better off we are."

NTPC has 27 thermal energy sites but only three hydro sites, one of which, the Snare Hydro System located on the Snare River, provides electricity to Yellowknife.

In 1990, 60 per cent of the company's total generation was diesel-based, compared to 15 per cent today.

"We've maximized our use of hydro wherever possible," said Clarke.

"The environment has been growing as a discipline and as a public concern."

The use of hydro also makes economic sense, added Clarke.

"It's an expensive thing to build a hydro site. But in the long run, it's kind of free energy. You maintain the site, but you're not purchasing diesel to run your plants. It pays for itself."

NTPC is exploring other options to reduce its impact on the environment. The Power Corp. is installing a distillation system in its Inuvik plant that will recycle glycol, which is used as a cooling agent in diesel engines.

Waste glycol is filtered through the system to yield reusable Glycol as an end product.

The system cost $80,000, but Clarke expects it will pay for itself in three years.

"Glycol needs to be reapplied to the engines every three years, then it needs to be replaced," he said. "You have to call up your supplier in Edmonton and purchase more of it, and they have to ship it up and install it.

"Meanwhile, you have to ship your waste glycol down south and pay for someone to dispose of it properly.

"With our distiller, we save a lot of money and we keep the glycol up North."

Based on the distiller's performance, the company may consider installing one in its Yellowknife hydro plant, which uses diesel-powered engines as back-ups.

"We want to be environmental leaders in the North," said Clarke.

Doug Ritchie, program manager at Ecology North, is involved with the city of Yellowknife's ongoing Community Energy Plan and has kept watch over the NWT Power Corp's energy-saving operations.

While he applauds the company's increasing reliance on hydro, he said there are other factors that account for the drop in emissions, factors that the Power Corp had no control over.

"I think the closure of the Giant Mine (in 2004) could account for that as well, because suddenly there's a lot less energy need," he said.