GNWT renews power expansion efforts
Energy and power system plans propose major expansion to North and South Slave hydro grid
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 20, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government is moving ahead with its plan to build a $500-million to $700-million transmission line to connect the North and South Slave power grids - a connection it says should be complete in five years.
Mark Henry, left, of ITI's Energy Planning Division, and Andrew Stewart of NT Energy discuss the GNWT's new energy plan at the legislative assembly on Tuesday. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo |
"As we speak, there is water flowing over the Taltson Dam, even though it could be used for electricity if we had transmission lines in place," said Premier Bob McLeod, while explaining the project.
The grid expansion would connect the Taltson system in the south to the Snare system in the North, picking up the current diesel communities of Kakisa and Fort Providence on the way. Talks are also set to begin with the Tlicho government on whether it would support a $3-million transmission line that would tie Whati into the hydro grid.
It would also tie the NWT power grid to the south, either through Saskatchewan or Alberta.
All this would come at a price tag the GNWT cannot afford with its current $800-million borrowing limit, which is currently carrying more than $550 million in debt.
"First and foremost, we're talking to the Government of Canada to finance it and discuss the borrowing limit," said McLeod when asked how this project could be paid for.
If, for example, the GNWT increased its debt ceiling to $1.5 billion and borrowed enough to finance a $700-million grid expansion, that would mean an additional $16,083 in debt per NWT resident.
So far, $500,000 has been allocated to look into the feasibility of the project in 2013-14. A technical review, including a detailed breakdown on how much it is expected to cost, is due out by March 31.
"Quite clearly, if you don't have the customer base, you can't build the transmission (lines)," said Andrew Stewart, manager of business development with NT Energy.
"A customer base large enough to sustain this kind of investment is going to require industrial loads. The only way to make this happen is economies of scale.
"To get close to a business case, we need industrial customers on the system."
The government's plan for grid expansion is laid out in the NWT Power System Plan, which was released Tuesday alongside the new NWT Energy Action plan that outlines energy investments for the next three years and a 20-year strategy for reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels and driving down the cost of energy.
In the Power System Plan, the transmission system has spurs to Ekati, Diavik and Snap Lake, as well as proposed developments at Gahcho Kue, Courageous Lake, Yellowknife Gold, NICO Gold and the Nechalacho rare earths project at Thor Lake.
However, no industrial customers have guaranteed they will buy power from the NWT grid, primarily because of the uncertainty of the project, said McLeod, adding he strongly believes that if the GNWT builds the grid to within a reasonable distance of the mine, they will tie in and purchase their power.
"We can approach it that way, or we can just be quiet and do nothing and watch power rates continue to increase, as well as greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
"We've been working on energy for a number of governments now. I think we're finally starting to get it right."
