Yukon officials celebrate federal funding for Atlin Hydro expansion project

Federal, territorial and First Nation officials were in Whitehorse Monday selling a budget measure that will help boost the renewable energy supply in the Yukon.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson joined Yukon Premier Sandy Silver and Tlingit Homeland Energy president and CEO Peter Kirby, among others, at a news conference to discuss the federal government's $32.2 million funding over the next two years for the Atlin Hydro expansion project.

The measure was announced in the federal budget last Thursday.

The project, which is still in the technical review stage, is slated to expand the existing two-megawatt hydropower facility in Atlin, B.C., to a 10.5 megawatt facility, and export the new power to Yukon's energy grid through a new transmission line.

The facility is owned and operated by the Taku River Tlingit First Nation's Tlingit Homeland Energy Partnership Program.

Wilkinson said the project fits "extremely well" with the federal government's emissions reduction plan announced two weeks ago, which calls for a 40 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2030.

The funding comes two months after Yukon Energy signed a 40-year deal with Tlingit Homeland Energy to buy renewable energy beginning in late 2024.

At the time, Yukon Energy CEO Andrew Hall said the deal would give the utility certainty about how much it would pay for the energy, adding it would cost the same or less as energy generated from liquefied natural gas and diesel.

The federal government said it had also set aside $50 million through its Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways program and will continue to work with Tlingit Homeland Energy to access the funding.

John Striecker, Yukon's minister of energy, mines and resources, said the new funding clears one of the biggest hurdles for the project but he cautioned there's still a lot of work to do before the deal between Yukon Energy and Tlingit Homeland Energy is finalized.

"It still has to go through the [Yukon] Utility Board," he said. 

The board is reviewing the deal and will make a recommendation about it by July 19.

The Yukon government has also committed $50 million to the project, with $15 million for this year.

Yukon MP Brendan Hanley said the funding a "big step forward transitioning to a cleaner energy future."