Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Arviat (June 22/05) - Kivalliq and Northern Manitoba mayors are urging the government of Nunavut to utilize wind power in at least one Kivalliq community.

At a meeting last month in Rankin Inlet, members of the Hudson's Bay Regional Round Table asked that a letter be drafted to request the use of wind-powered generators to provide 50 per cent of a Kivalliq community's energy needs.

A specific community has not yet been determined. The letter will be sent to Energy Minister Ed Picco, and the Qulliq Energy Corp. (QEC). The group consists of the six Kivalliq mayors, as well as mayors and chiefs from Northern Manitoba.

"It is a priority," said co-ordinator Rick Van Horne from Arviat. "We're trying to do whatever we can to reduce our use of diesel."

Without hydro-electrical dams, Nunavut uses diesel fuel to generate the territory's electrical needs.

According to the Qulliq Energy Corp., it burned 39 million litres of diesel in 2004 to meet demand for electricity.

As part of a QEC feasibility study, three windmills have been erected in Rankin Inlet, Kugluktuk, and Cambridge Bay. To date, Qulliq has not publicly released results from the experiments.

Other proposals to make use of hydro power - such as building a dam across Iqaluit's Sylvia Grinnell River - are still years away from being seriously discussed. At the round table Rankin meeting, lawyers representing a number of companies providing wind power met with Van Horne to determine where to go next.

"The group is very positive about coming to Nunavut," he said of the meetings.

According to the lawyers, a test site would cost about $50,000 to install.

But Van Horne said he was told the cost estimate on a generator plant varies greatly depending on how difficult it is to bring in the materials, as well as a community's energy needs. There is no firm time when the group would like to see the wind power generating station operating.

Calls to the Qulliq Energy Corp. for comment on the proposal were not returned before deadline.