Yukon wants to electrify to slash emissions but faces a shortage of green power

Yukon Energy officials say the utility will be hard-pressed to produce enough renewable power to meet the territory's emissions targets.    

Under terms of the government's Confidence and Supply Agreement, the territory's climate change plans call for emissions to drop 45 per cent by 2030. But the utility also forecasts that overall non-industrial demand for power will grow by 36 per cent over the same time.

Hitting emissions targets requires widespread electrification, especially for the energy-intensive transportation and home heating sectors. And if that power isn't coming from renewable sources, it won't help bring emissions down nearly as much.

"We are looking at a lot of electric cars, a lot of electric heat pumps, and a lot of electric heating coming online in 2030, and that's so important. We really, really need that," said NDP MLA Lane Tredger. "[But] I am trying to understand how we are going to meet that energy need."

Speaking to a legislative committee this week, Yukon Energy's acting president Chris Milner said all the company's major renewable projects are now on hold.

"We're going to have to be really specific in the projects we look at in the short-term supply plan because the options to us are limited," he said.

One of those, the Moon Lake pump storage project, could provide up to 35 megawatts. But Milner said that project will not be online by 2028 as first planned. The Southern Lakes enhanced storage project is also on hold. 

And the Atlin hydro expansion project, while technically ready to go, is still short the money it needs to get started. 

"The stage we're at right now, [is] just looking at energy planning in the region and how best to work with First Nations on moving projects of that size and nature," Milner said. "Until we can get some clarity around what that looks like, projects like that are going to be slow to move."

Milner said in the meantime, the territory will need power produced by burning diesel and liquefied natural gas to ensure it has enough.

But some renewable projects are still going ahead. Milner said Yukon Energy is about to plug in to the new four-megawatt wind turbine array on Haeckel Hill in Whitehorse. 

And, he said, construction continues on a new grid-scale battery that would allow the utility to save hydro power produced during off-peak times and feed to the grid during times of high demand, reducing the need for electricity from fossil fuels.

There's also a new program to reduce electricity demand the utility hopes will save seven megawatts by 2030.

Energy Minister John Streicker admitted the government has moved faster on vehicle electrification and incentives for small power producers than it has on big-ticket green energy projects.

But he said the government still intends to hit its climate change goal.

"It is a hard target to meet, but it's an important target to meet," he said. "We never said it would be easy."