The territorial government is taking another look at connecting hydro facilities powering Yellowknife and other North Slave communities with the Taltson River hydroelectric facility near Fort Smith.
This map, included in the request for proposals, shows existing and potential power lines in the North and South Slave regions.
July 24, 2018
The $170,000 study will also explore the feasibility of installing transmissions lines to the diamond mines northeast of Yellowknife and selling off excess power to the south SA国际影视传媒� a dream that was scuttled in 2014 after a hydro grid expansion feasibility study came back with a $1.2 billion price tag.
Nonetheless, the Department of Infrastructure put out a request for proposals on July 24 for a Great Slave Lake Submarine Cable Concept Study. The study would report on methods for getting a transmission line across Great Slave Lake and the feasibility of an underwater cable, as well as cost estimates, the GNWT told Yellowknifer this week.
The study would inform a potential, major expansion of the Taltson hydro facility and the connection of the North and South Slave electricity grids, projects which have been on the territory's wish list for more than a decade.
The GNWT estimates that increasing electricity generation at the Taltson from 18 megawatts (MW) to 60 MW could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 240,000 tonnes per year. A fully expanded Taltson could generate up to 220 MW.
To put these figures in perspective, at the peak of consumption during the coldest part of winter (January to February), Yellowknife uses about 36 MW of electricity.
Currently the Taltson facility, located 64 kilometres north of Fort Smith, sends power to Fort Smith, Hay River, the Katl'odeeche First Nation reserve, Fort Resolution and Enterprise.
The government's goal is to connect the Taltson system to the Snare system and the diamond mines, and to sell excess power to southern Canada.
SA国际影视传媒淭he benefits of connecting our two hydro systems are significant,SA国际影视传媒� Kelley Ryder, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure, stated in an email on Wednesday.
SA国际影视传媒淲e would dramatically improve drought resilience in the Snare System, reduce the use of standby diesel, lower operation and maintenance costs, and stabilize energy costs in the NWT.SA国际影视传媒�
According to the GNWT's 2030 energy strategy, connecting the NWT to the southern power grid could displace coal use in the provinces and contribute to national emissions reduction targets.
The energy strategy also says selling hydro power in the south would provide the territory with a new long-term source of revenue.
Ryder said that both Alberta and Saskatchewan are interested in hydro power from the NWT, but that electricity markets in those regions are regulated SA国际影视传媒渧ery differently.SA国际影视传媒�
2030 energy strategy
The GNWT's 2030 energy strategy envisions a power grid in which electricity from the Taltson is transmitted to the mines, which major consumers of energy and emitters of greenhouse gasses.
Ryder said a single large industrial customer could need between 15 and 50 MW of electricity generation.
But connecting the Taltson to the mines is impossible without buy-in from industry and the federal government, and some critics say the asking price is simply too high.
In his 2016 report on energy security in the Northwest Territories, called The Northern Way, former MLA Michael Miltenberger wrote that expanding the Taltson to 200 MW could cost more than $2.2 billion. This is more than the entire $2-billion federal Low Carbon Economy Fund that was set up to invest in projects throughout Canada that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Miltenberger writes that paying for the full Taltson expansion SA国际影视传媒渨ould add more than $60,000 to the territorial debt load of every resident of the NWT. There would be little if any benefits generated along any timeline that would be important to meeting terms of the Paris Accord.SA国际影视传媒�
But the move to study a submarine transmission line across Great Slave Lake suggests that the GNWT is pushing ahead with the Taltson expansion.
SA国际影视传媒淣WT's lack of road and transmission infrastructure is a key barrier to developing a sustainable northern economy,SA国际影视传媒� said Ryder.
SA国际影视传媒淭altson expansion SA国际影视传媒� along with the Tlicho All Season road, the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Slave Geological Province Corridor SA国际影视传媒� is one of four key infrastructure priorities identified by the GNWT that will help transform our territory.SA国际影视传媒�
In the request for proposals document, the GNWT acknowledges that there is scant information about the depth and topography of the bottom of Great Slave Lake, and that the season during which boats installing cables could operate is limited.
SA国际影视传媒淭he likelihood and impact of equipment becoming stranded should be considered,SA国际影视传媒� reads the document.
Ryder said one goal of the study is to examine emerging technologies. It may be easier and cheaper to build a transmission line across the lake today than in the past.
Another aim of the study is to determine how much building such a line would cost.
Ryder said that in 2017, the cost of the hydro expansion part of the Taltson project was pegged at around $500 million, but that this estimate did not include the cost of transmission lines.
The GNWT plans to begin the contract for the submarine cable concept study by the end of this month. The contract is set to expire on Feb. 1, 2019.
