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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Hopes of retaining federal input in the Con Mine geothermal energy project for downtown were kept alive at the Dec. 12 council meeting approved the formation of a subsidiary.

David Wind: Councillor still has a lot of serious reservations about geothermal. - NNSL file photo

The subsidiary will allow the municipality to provide proof in its application to the federal government that it has a plan to move forward with an eventual geothermal extraction project in the downtown core. City Mayor Gord Van Tighem said that a possible $14.5-million Clean Energy funding grant is still available from Natural Resources Canada if the city meets the proper requirements.

“This is the next hurdle into hopefully obtaining federal input into the Yellowknife project,” said Van Tighem. “We had to prove that we had the wherewithal to invest in the project, which would have required borrowing.”

According to the bylaw, he subsidiary's role in the partnership will be to act as the city's agent with private investor Corix Utilities in order to ensure serivces are delivered to the public. The city will “operate the community energy system, maintain the direct relationship with customers, and control rate setting.”

However, some councillors said they expect more information to come forward in the new year as far as what the subsidiary will actually do in the partnership with Corix. City administrator Bob Long said this information will be available in February.

“We certainly wanted to see the terms of reference or an outline of what the subsidiary is going to be responsible for,” said councillor Cory Vanthuyne. “I understood we (had) to pass the bylaw first, but we want to have a good outline of what is expected or a terms of reference to look at.”

Similarly, Coun. David Wind said he had no problem supporting the formation of the subsidiary for the time being.

“I still have a lot of serious reservations about the community energy plan,” he said, adding that he wanted to see the details of the arrangement with Corix. “It didn't seem to me to make a lot of sense to stand in the way of possibly getting $14 million from the feds toward a community energy system just for the sake of opposing it.”

The alternative heating project has lingered for much of 2011 after a referendum to borrow money for the project was defeated last March. If passed, it would have allowed the city to borrow $49 million. Since then, the city had entered into an agreement of understanding with a private investor, Vancouver-based Corix Utilities. That company has stated that it wants to develop the project, however a final contract is not expected to be completed until March.

“The next discussion will be that if we have a private investor, is there still federal money,” Van Tighem said.

Despite the passing of the bylaw, there were some continued concerns among some councillors with the project.

More broadly, Wind wanted to know what the city's interpretation of March's referendum had really been, because he had gotten the sense from residents that they wanted to stop the project altogether.

“If you interpret strictly according to what the proposal really was, it was just borrowing,” Wind said. “But when people voted, they thought it was to put a stop to the CES and they weren't enthusiastic about pursuing it further. ”

However, Long rejected that premise and said that the result of the referendum didn't prevent the city from going to the private sector.

“My interpretation of the referendum was that taxpayers were not willing to finance the project in the context of that bylaw,” said Long. He added that their message was “don't borrow in our name,” so the city moved to interested parties in the private sector.

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