No Easy Answers

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that Yukon Energy is exploring the possibility of putting a weir on the Atlin River, allowing us to slow the flow of water from Atlin Lake in the fall so that there would be more water for us to use for winter power production.

A number of people have asked, "Why don't you instead buy power from the existing hydro dam on Pine Creek in Atlin?"

Yukon Energy would love to be able to purchase power from the Taku River Tlinigit First Nation, which owns and operates the plant. However it's not that simple. First of all, the First Nation doesn’t have the amount of power that we need. It could opt to build a second power plant for additional hydro, although we don’t know how that would be received by the residents of Atlin.

Then there would be the cost of us building a transmission line from Atlin to Jake’s Corner in the Yukon. We would also need to buy the power from the First Nation, adding to the total cost per kilowatt hour.

We calculate power via a transmission line would cost between 20 to 25 cents/kilowatt hour, compared to the weir option which would be in the 7 to 10 cents/kilowatt hour range.

We are looking at a whole range of possible sources of clean energy, including enhancing our existing hydro facilities (Mayo B, a third turbine for Aishihik, the Gladstone Diversion concept, the Southern Lakes Storage proposal), geo-thermal, additional wind, waste to energy, and energy conservation. In almost all those cases, there are no easy or perfect solutions and there is often the need to weigh the pros and cons and move forward with what we see as the best choices given the circumstances.

We are certainly open to any and all suggestions for what we can do to meet the growing demand for electricity in the Yukon, keeping in mind that we are committed to providing power with clean, renewable sources.