Taku River Tlingit hydro project gets mixed reaction in Atlin, B.C.

The Taku River Tlingit First Nation's plan to sell hydroelectric power to the Yukon is getting mixed reaction in Atlin, B.C. The First Nation's development company shared its plans with the community at an open house this week.

"We know we've ruffled some feathers and we've acknowledged that," said Peter Kirby, CEO of Tlingit Homeland Energy Limited. 

"At the same time we've had a number of people saying, 'way to go, keep it going, that's great.'

"So we expect continued conversations with people in Atlin."

The company startled some Atlin residents with blasting a few weeks ago, when it began testing bedrock to see if a new powerhouse could be built near Pine Creek Beach. 

The proposed project would seek to generate about five megawatts. It would be run and owned by the first nation, through Tlingit Heritage Energy.

"At this stage, with the rough numbers, it looks like it's a potentially viable project," Kirby said. A feasibility study is now in progress.

The project calls for a transmission line up the Atlin road to the Yukon power grid. If the project proves feasible, the First Nation will negotiate a power purchase agreement with Yukon Energy.

"We're culturally, socially, economically tied to the Yukon. So as much as it is legally in B.C., really we think of ourselves as part of the Yukon and as a Yukon project," Kirby said.

This would be the second hydroelectric project in Atlin. A smaller, two-megawatt turbine was built in 2009. It supplies nearly all of Atlin's electricity.