Good Progress Being Made on Carmacks-Stewart Transmission Line

Media Releases

Jun 24, 2008  Comment

Yukon Energy is making good progress on Phase 1 of the Carmacks-Stewart transmission line. When completed late this fall, the line will run from Carmacks to Pelly Crossing, with a spur to the Minto mine.

“I am very satisfied with the way this project is proceeding,” Yukon Energy President David Morrison said. “We are keeping within our expected time frame and budget and should have power flowing to the Minto mine by the end of September.”

Valard Construction crews are assembling and erecting the wooden structures that will hold the transmission line. On the main 138 kV line, 321 of the 550 necessary structures have been set into the ground. On the smaller 25 kV spur line to the Minto mine, 255 out of 336 structures have been erected.

The stringing of the line is expected to begin late this month or early next.

Work is also underway to build substations at Carmacks, Minto Landing and the Minto mine, with substation work at Pelly Crossing to start shortly. “Our largest piece of equipment, the transformer at Minto Landing, is currently undergoing performance testing in Ontario,” Morrison said. “It should arrive in the Yukon sometime in August.”

In the area of health and safety, Yukon Energy is giving all contractors on this project a health and safety and environmental orientation, including detailed information about the environmental and regulatory obligations that must be fulfilled. Both the Northern Tutchone First Nations and the Yukon government have inspectors who regularly check the worksite to ensure that the rules are being followed. “We have a good relationship with these inspectors and have been updating them two or three times a week on current activities and locations,” Morrison said. “We haven’t had any significant issues or problems.”

The Carmacks to Stewart line will provide long-term benefits to all Yukon ratepayers. It gives Yukon Energy a customer for its surplus hydro, and allows Pelly Crossing to switch to clean hydro for its electricity needs.

Phase 1, from Carmacks to Pelly Crossing, is expected to cost about $27.8 million, with the Minto spur line costing approximately $8.8 million. The Yukon government is providing $10-million to this project. “We have received the first installment of $5 million from the government and will receive the rest by the completion date,” Morrison said. “Without this significant contribution, the line may not have been economically feasible.”

The project has been through an extensive environmental screening by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board and through three public hearings by the Yukon Utilities Board.


Contact:
Janet Patterson
Supervisor, Communications
Yukon Energy Corporation
(867) 393-5333
janet.patterson@yec.yk.ca

 

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