You may be aware that we are adding a third turbine to our Aishihik hydro plant. As a result, it is necessary that we shut down that plant for the next few weeks, starting this afternoon, while we do the installation.
While our Aishihik plant is off line, we will need to run some of our diesel generators both in Whitehorse and Faro to meet the demand for electricity. We are asking Yukoners on the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro transmission system to try to conserve energy as much as possible during this time period (June 1st to 21st).
The Aishihik shut-down is just part of the juggling we'll be doing this summer and fall. We must have our Aishihik plant back on line by the end of this month and we need to have Stage 2 of our Carmacks-Stewart transmission line also hooked up by the end of this month, so that we can then shut down our Mayo hydro generating plant to do some necessary work on the Mayo B project. With the Carmacks-Stewart line in service it will allow us to continue serving Mayo and Dawson City with hydro, as opposed to having to rely 100 percent on diesel during the Mayo shut-down.
Throughout this entire time period we encourage Yukoners to be as careful as possible with their electricity usage. Many thanks.
by Jake the snake
This is just insane. They are constantly running the Riverdale generators non stop, day and night. Does YEC have an obligation to monitor the surrounding air quality? What about the noise? The people living in Riverdale and those walking the trails are the most susceptible to this pollution.
06.02.2011
by Brom
I live near the generators and the smell of burning diesel is overwhelming at times, especially during the past couple of hot days. Are they monitoring the air?
06.02.2011
by Yukon Energy
Two of our hydro facilities, at Aishihik and Mayo, are undergoing major upgrades. The addition of a third turbine at Aishihik and a new powerhouse at Mayo will give us access to more renewable energy for years to come, meaning we’ll have to burn less diesel in the long run. However during this construction period, we must run some of our back-up diesels to ensure we have enough power to meet the demand. Without running the diesels, Yukoners would be facing rolling black-outs, so this is a matter of short term pain for long term gain.
In terms of the air quality, we do have an air emissions permit that we must adhere to, and we are in full compliance with that permit. We also had some air quality modelling done a few years ago that indicated only if we were running our diesels full out, seven days a week for months at a time and in very cold temperatures, would there be a potential for adverse health affects. We are happy to share this report with anyone who wishes it.
As for the noise, we acknowledge it isn’t pleasant, but unfortunately it is unavoidable for the next several days.
If you are interested, our energy consumption chart on our website shows when and how much the deisels are running. The chart can be found at: http://yukonenergy.ca/customer/residential/consumption/waf/#
06.02.2011
by diamond dave
I’ve checked the graph and it means very little to the layperson. How does one determine the volume of diesel burned through megawatts of consumption? More importantly, how does one correlate megawatts of consumption to the amount of particulate matter released into the surrounding environment by the continued use of these generators? I understand that some baseline air quality data was obtained in the past, but shouldn’t they be continually monitoring the air quality surrounding the site, considering the size and frequency those generators are used, especially at times when Yukon Energy’s aging infrastructure is continuously being challenged, which seems more often than not. Is this air quality report they speak of posted on their website for the public to access? If not it should be.
06.03.2011
by Yukon Energy
Diamond Dave, the consumption charts are designed to show the number of megawatts of hydro electricity being generated, and the number of megawatts of power being producing using diesel, at any given time. As I write this at 4 p.m. on June 6th, the chart shows that 36 megawatts of power are being produced by hydro on our Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro system, and an additional 2 megawatts of power is being produced with diesel, for a total of 38 MW of power.
The charts are not designed to show other things such as number of litres of diesel being used or the amount of particulate matter.
The study you speak of will be posted on our website sometime this week. If you wish to view it earlier than that, please contact Yukon Energy and we can arrange to put it on a disc for you (it is a large file and might be difficult to email).
06.06.2011
by Yukon Energy
I should also mention that Yukon Energy has done air emissions testing this week and the emissions from our diesel plant are well within the limits set in our air emissions permit.
06.07.2011
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