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INUVIK
A push by the territorial government to explore all possible energy solutions for Inuvik has resulted in renewed hope for a wind farm in the area.

William Hurst, senior technician at the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, checks equipment at the wind monitoring site installed in Inuvik in 2006. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

The Aurora Research Institute (ARI) released a new analysis of potential wind turbine sites near Inuvik on March 28. This study was the direct result of a call from Michael Miltenberger, minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, to exhaust all options for dealing with Inuvik's energy needs.

The ARI had previously studied wind as an energy option for Inuvik in 2006, but concluded that wind speeds close to town were not fast enough to make turbines realistic.

However, as a result in Inuvik's current natural gas shortage, the GNWT put out a call for its departments to explore all energy options for the town. As a result, the search for viable wind was expanded to anywhere within 50 kilometres of the town.

Using information gathered by existing Environment Canada stations within that distance, the ARI concluded that there are two areas with strong enough wind speeds to make a wind turbine project economically viable.

If a four-megawatt wind farm – about five 65- to 75-metre turbines – was installed in either location, it could compete in price with the current cost of diesel, the analysis concludes.

"If you continued to have natural gas, we wouldn't be able to build a wind farm there, because I don't think we could compete with the natural gas prices," said Jean-Paul Pinard, the engineer who produced the recent analysis for the ARI and has worked with the institute for about the last 10 years on similar projects.

The next step is to install monitoring towers at Caribou Hills and Storm Hills to make sure that the wind speeds recorded by Environment Canada are accurate.

With the study coming out now, the project has missed the ice road window, although the towers could be put up during the summer using a helicopter.

"We certainly do want to put up a tower and do the measurements," said Wade Carpenter, an alternative energy specialist with the GNWT's department of Environment and Natural Resources who is working on this project. "If the winds are as good as the modelling says, then those are world-class wind speeds."

These towers would then be monitored for about two years before a final decision could be made about whether it would makes sense to install wind turbines.

"I don't think there's going to be any wind turbines up in the near future," said William Hurst, senior technician at the ARI. "Not within the next five years, anyways."

"Wind is being looked at as a potential long-term solution, but it will definitely not be a short-term solution for the upcoming needs of the community because of the time it takes to put in," said Carpenter.

Once the go-ahead for monitoring towers is given and the equipment is in place, the ARI could put up a tower within a day or two, said Hurst.

"I bet you that's what might happen," he said. "Especially with our lack of natural gas – that's my guess."

One of the major challenges of a wind farm in either of these locations is building the roads into the sites, and running lines to move the power from the turbines to the town.

With proper planning, a wind project could be organized alongside the construction of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, said Pinard. This could bring down the overall cost of the project and make the energy more affordable.

"I think those turbines all depend of the Tuk road," said Hurst.

While wind energy is expensive to install and may not be the most economically attractive energy solution, it has the major benefit of not releasing carbon emissions into the air, Hurst said.

"I just believe in protecting the environment," said Hurst. "If you protect the environment, then you protect the animals and the land, which is important. I couldn't imaging living anyplace else on the planet but in the Delta."

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