by Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 16/98) - Wha Ti wants to harness a clean and cheap form of energy that run right through the community.

Tom Matus, senior administrative officer in the North Slave community, said the Lac La Martre River could be used to generate electricity.

"I met with two gentlemen when I was in Vancouver," Matus said. "They made a presentation about their idea and it sounds good."

The idea involves the installation of a run-of-river turbine in the Lac La Martre river. There would be no dam that holds back water and floods land upstream.

Barry Davis, chairman of Blue Energy Canada and chief designer of the hydro turbine, was one of the men who met with Matus to propose the energy project. He said the use of turbines would make power generation in Wha Ti easier.

"It solves the problem of getting the fuel in, particularly during the summer," Davis said. "There are already large storage tanks in place, and using the turbine along with the diesel generator would help save on fuel usage and cost." A test turbine could be set up this summer.

Matus said the idea promises long-term benefits for both the consumer and the environment.

"The turbines wouldn't produce any pollution," he said, adding that the they will revolve relatively slowly and not harm fish.

The introduction of the new system would result in the reduced electricity costs, but the savings would not be immediate.

"There would probably be a 10-year period where we would be paying off the capital investment and the costs would be quite expensive," he said. "But the turbine would have a life span of 30 years and probably longer with proper maintenance."

Many other communities in the NWT are close to water, but the possibility of expanding the project in other communities would hinge upon a number of factors, Matus said, including the speed of the current and the length of time the water near the community was open during the year.

Matus added that Wha Ti is also looking into the possibility of teaming up with other communities and even the NWT Power Corporation to bring the benefits to as many consumers as possible and perhaps reduce the initial start-up costs of the turbine project.