SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One month month after the Snare Falls turbine failed, causing a city-wide blackout, the hydroelectric plant is back online and the GNWT will foot the million-dollar bill for backup generation.
The Snare Falls hydro plant is back online after a damaged bearing took it out of commission for a month. - photo courtesy of NWT Power Corporation |
The plant went down in the early morning of Feb. 15 and was repaired and brought back into service on Monday.
Original estimates from the Northwest Territories Power Corporation suggested repairs would keep the plant down until the end of March - closer to six weeks.
With one of the four plants that make up the Snare River hydro system down, the pricetag for backup diesel totalled $1.15 million.
"The GNWT has allowed us to access the low water fund and put these under the low water costs," Emanuel DaRosa told Yellowknifer.
In February, Michael Miltenberger, minister responsible for the power corp., said it was possible costs associated with the failure could be covered by the $20 million the GNWT gave the power corp. last year to cover the additional cost of backup diesel fuel required due to low water levels in the Snare system.
The final cost for low water, and whether it will exceed the $20 million, is still undetermined, said Eileen Hendry, power corp. manager of performance and benchmarking.
"So far, we're doing better than expected with costs under low water, but it's too soon to say what the final cost of low water will be," said Hendry.
The repairs at the plant came at a cost of $505,000, for which DaRosa said the power corp. has submitted an insurance claim. When the insurance company will respond on that claim, he was unsure.
"Otherwise, we will carry it to the next (General Rate Application)," DaRosa said.
"Certainly we'll do whatever we can to mitigate any costs to customers at all."
A damaged bearing was deemed to be the cause of the Snare Falls turbine failure.
Although spare bearings are kept in stock, Hendry said those spares have a shortened lifespan when not in use and so had to be tested before put into place.
When in use, the bearings have a lifespan of up to 25 years. The failed bearing was 19-years-old and scheduled for replacement this summer.
The shelf-life for the bearings, however, is between three and five years, Hendry said, due to soft metals that separate when left sitting.
Although Snare Falls is back online and functioning normally, the plant is scheduled for an overhaul this summer, in line with the regular maintenance schedule.
