Yukon at risk of blackouts with Aishihik hydro plant hobbled, energy minister says

Count Yukon's energy minister John Streicker among those hoping for a warm winter.

Streicker said the territory risks blackouts this winter while one of three turbines at the Aishihik hydro dam undergoes repairs.

"It really depends on just how cold it gets," Streicker said. "And the other thing that it depends on [is] if we have one of our major facilities go down like a hydro line or something, then we will be in trouble and we will get blackouts."

The Aishihik turbine was critically damaged in October after a component broke off and spun around inside. The Yukon Energy Corporation has said repair work won't be completed before spring. Meanwhile, low water on Aishihik Lake is further hampering the utility's ability to generate power.

Streicker said the Yukon government and Yukon Energy are taking steps to control energy demand. They've launched a program to reduce energy use at peak times.

During a recent cold snap, energy demand topped 100 megawatts, Streicker said, out of a maximum capacity of 120 megawatts. Yukon Energy asked mining company Hecla to pull its Keno Hill project off the grid and generate its own power.

That arrangement is in place with all of Yukon Energy's major industrial users, said Michael Muller, the utility's vice president of planning, environment and health and safety.

"When we start to approach loads where we're worried about supplying our residential and commercial customers, we provide notice to those mines and they are required to self-generate," he said.

Muller also said Yukon Energy is burning more diesel and liquefied natural gas right now — even though temperatures are warmer — to allow Aishihik to store water in case it's needed later in the season. Aishihik is the only hydro dam in the territory that can store water in a network of underground shafts and chambers for later use.

So while the territory can often generate as much as 90 per cent of its power using renewables —mostly hydro — that figure is currently way down. For example at lunchtime on Monday, Yukon Energy's grid was generating 81 megawatts of electricity. Fifty-one megawatts came from hydro and 30 came from "thermal" generation, a combination of diesel and LNG.

Yukon Energy's diesel generation comes from a combination of owned and rented equipment, mostly in Whitehorse and Faro. The Whitehorse generators have created longstanding noise complaints among residents of nearby Riverdale.

Streicker said he recently met with Riverdale residents about the issue. He says Yukon Energy will begin installing soundproofing, but that won't happen until next year. In the meantime, he said, Yukon Energy is looking for other locations for some of those generators.