Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 07/00) - Northwest Territories Power Corporation officials headed to Greenland last week on a fact finding mission.

Their goal, according to Axel Have, NTPC's director of Nunavut operations, was to seek out ways to improve their energy efficiency.

Travelling with Rick Blennerhassett, the president of the Nunavut Power Corporation, Have said they were specifically looking at ways to better harness their diesel fuel energy.

"When we burn a litre of diesel fuel, only 30 per cent of the energy of that fuel is converted to electricity. One- third goes up through the radiators and one-third through the exhaust," said Have.

NTPC burns 30 million litres of diesel fuel per year to provide power to Nunavummiut; about 20 million litres are not being used to maximum potential. The solution, Have said, was to capture the waste energy as they do in Greenland.

"It's quite simple," said Have. "You tap into it with a pipe and circulate it. For the energy that goes up in exhaust, you have to install coils and a boiler. It's a little more expensive, but there's lots of energy available," he said.

While some of the necessary equipment was installed by the company's previous owners years ago, Have said other than the schools in Pangnirtung, the technology was not being fully utilized in Nunavut.

"Two years ago in Pangnirtung, we tapped into the radiator heat and we're heating (those two schools)," said Have, adding the equipment was preventing 200,000 litres of diesel fuel from going to waste on an annual basis.

While he explained that the environmental benefits were many, the drawback was dollars. Carrying a one-time installation price tag of $775,000 in Pangnirtung alone, it will take about 17 years to realize the financial benefits, even with 90 per cent of the money saved going directly to the mortgage pay-off.

"The financial payback tends to be long. It's the kind of thing private investors won't touch," said Have.

But Have said NTPC was considering installing the equipment in their plant in Iqaluit (estimated to cost between $3-$4 million) in order to heat the yet-to-be-built hospital and Nunavut Arctic College.

Have said he and Blennerhassett also plan to look at Greenland Power's use of wind generated power. He noted, however, that given the information derived from the windmills up and running in Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Sachs Harbour and Rankin Inlet, it was unlikely the power corporation would move to such a form of energy production in the near future.

"We have been doing some experimentation with wind power. So far, the kilowatt-hour coming from that is costing more than diesel," said Have.

He further noted that high, gusting winds and cold temperatures were interfering with the windmills efficiency.