Vibration causes another delay in effort to bring Taltson hydro facility online
Carla Ulrich | CBC News | Posted: March 13, 2025 3:46 PM | Last Updated: March 13
Power corporation now projecting Taltson will be restored to service at end of April
Efforts to bring the Taltson hydro facility in the N.W.T. back online have been delayed again because of a vibration within the unit that's causing concern, according to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC).
In a statement early this week, NTPC said the issue was detected during testing and commissioning activities in February.
The testing phase is meant to determine whether the upgraded system — which includes a new turbine and generator — will remain stable after NTPC makes the switch from diesel to hydro in the South Slave.
It's one of the final steps as NTPC nears the end of a project to overhaul the facility which has now gone on for nearly two years. NTPC's chief operating officer Belinda Whitford said the plant is now expected to be back online at the end of April.
Whitford said the corporation is working on multiple solutions to fix the vibration issue, and they expect to have an update by the end of the week.
"The hydro unit is made up of many parts, and essentially, the vibration is created when the water pressure coming in hits the mechanical components of the unit."
The plant was once intended to be back online at the end of January, and this is not the first delay NTPC has experienced getting that done. In early February, a fault on a transmission line caused a setback in the schedule.
Whitford said commissioning – the process of bringing the facility into working condition – is crucial and must be done correctly. She said it's "always one step forward and a step to the side."
"You want to do checks along the way to make sure that the operation of the unit in the end is good and will last us for the next 50 to 60 years."
Whitford said a full-scale commissioning will not resume until the vibration has been reduced to an acceptable level. That is expected to be complete by the end of March.
She said commissioning is taking longer than expected, but that NTPC is committed to ensuring all communities have reliable power once the plant is back online.
"Safety and reliability are two of the pillars of the NTPC's operations," Whitford said. "We always do it in a safe manner for employees and also for our customers."