About Us

News, Community Involvement
Jun 17, 2014  Comment

Thank You, Challenge!

Yukon Energy would like to thank the non-profit group Challenge for recognizing us with an Outstanding Community Support Award. Challenge does a commendable job helping Yukoners with disabilities become active in their community by learning job skills and finding meaningful work. Yukon Energy was recognized last night for our on-going support for the organization. We have partnered with Challenge on a number of projects, including producing some materials for our energy conservation department. We also contribute a small amount of sponsorship funding to the group each year. Seen below: Janet Patterson accepts the award on behalf of Yukon Energy.

News, Energy Supply, Environment
Jun 18, 2014  Comment

Another Season of Climate Change Work

For the fourth year in a row, Yukon Energy is working with the Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) of the Yukon Research Centre to gather new information about how climate change could affect hydro generation at the Whitehorse dam. Multi-year matching funds from Yukon Energy Corporation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) is allowing NCE to continue its work of investigating the implications of climate change on hydro generation. Preliminary research began in 2011, when Yukon Energy provided the Northern Climate ExChange with funding to gather some initial ice data on the Upper Yukon River Basin, at the Llewellyn Glacier and Fantail River. A year later, researchers went back to the area to install two monitoring stations in the Fantail River Basin. Since then, the stations have recorded information such as air temperature, precipitation (both rain and snow) and solar radiation. They are tracking changes in the weather both in the medium and long term. The 2013 fieldwork involved installing two more meteorological stations on the Llewellyn Glacier. This year scientists plan to put the last of the monitoring stations at the headwaters of the Wheaton River, another tributary of the Yukon River. Yukon Energy and NSERC have each contributed $385,000 for three fiscal years of work (2013 – 2016). Technical and other support is being provided by the University of Alberta, the Juneau Icefield Research Program, Yukon Geological Survey and Environment Yukon’s Water Resources Branch. As well, Yukon College students are involved in many different aspects of this project, including field work and data interpretation. This research is critical to Yukon Energy in terms of helping us plan for climate change and the implications on our ability to generate hydro power. With the majority of the electricity we produce coming from the Whitehorse hydro facilities, we must be ready for any future changes in the watershed that feeds our Whitehorse system. By the end of this project in 2016, researchers expect to develop a model that will help Yukon Energy in our future resource planning. The model will also assist us in operating our Whitehorse hydro facilities in the most efficient way possible under various scenarios. Visit the Northern Climate ExChange website for more details on this initiative.

News
Jun 19, 2014  Comment

Summer Water Levels on the Southern Lakes

Levels in the Southern Lakes upstream from our Whitehorse Rapids hydro facility can vary greatly from year to year, depending on winter snowfall, summer rain, and summer temperatures (which affect the amount of glacial melt in the area). A hot, rainy summer, especially if it follows a winter with heavy snowfall, can mean potential flooding of properties in low-lying areas near Marsh and Tagish Lakes. Yukon Energy is often asked what we can do to help prevent flooding of people's properties in the high water level years. There is a misconception that if we would only let more water through our Whitehorse dam or our Lewes Lake gates, there wouldn't be a flooding problem. The truth is that under our water license, we must have all our gates open no later than May 15 of each year. That means that we hold no water back during the summer months, and we have no ability to increase the water flow from the Southern Lakes. However what we can do is share our information with local residents about what we expect summer water levels to be like each year. This will help people prepare their property for possible flooding in high water years. During the summer months (until the water levels peak and start to subside) we post regular charts on this blog that show current water levels. Here is the most recent chart for 2014, with actual water levels to June 16th. As you can see, it looks like this summer will be a year of average to below average water levels, meaning we don't expect to see any flooding.
News, Community Involvement
Jun 20, 2014  3

A Heartwarming Tale of Two Dogs and Two Yukon Energy Employees

We just have to share this story we received this morning from one of our staff: Last November I was returning from Dawson City in the early morning after completing a work project. As I approached Swallow Creek, between Stewart Crossing and Pelly Crossing, I saw two very sad faces in the blowing snow. I pulled over to check out what it was, and to my shock I discovered two little dogs. There were no tracks around them, so I believed they had been dumped there. The temperature was between -25 to -30 degrees C.   The blonde dog had no trouble with me picking it up. The little husky however, didn’t want anything to do with me. After 15 minutes of trying to catch the husky a south bound vehicle stopped to help. The female driver was able to pick up the husky in seconds.   With both dogs in the passenger seat of my truck I headed to Pelly where I stopped at the RCMP detachment and asked if anyone lived in the Swallow Creek area. The constable didn’t know of anyone. The constable informed me that Pelly Crossing was overrun with dogs so I decided to bring the animals back to Whitehorse.   Both dogs curled up on the arm rest of the truck for the rest of ride to the Whitehorse animal shelter and that's where I believed my good deed was over...until last night at our annual staff BBQ.   I had heard that one of our other employees (we'll call him Al) had adopted a dog from the shelter and last night he brought it to the BBQ. I looked at the dog and knew it was the husky I had rescued from the side of the road. In talking with Al and his wife it turns out they had adopted both dogs and the second dog now lives with Al's mother-in-law.   Al says when he adopted the animals, he was given no information about them other than that they came from the Pelly area. His dog is named Pepper, and is seen below on a family holiday. The blonde dog's name is Halo.    
General, News
Jun 23, 2014  Comment

Our Report to You

Our 2013 Annual Report is not available for viewing. You can find it here. 
Energy Supply, Reliability
Jun 24, 2014  Comment

A Chat With A System Control Operator

June is National Electricity Month, and to mark this event, the Canadian Electricity Association - of which Yukon Energy is a part - has prepared a blog series featuring various people working in the electricity business. It includes a two-part interview with Myles O'Brien, one of Yukon Energy's System Control Operators. Here is Part I.
Energy Supply, Reliability
Jun 25, 2014  Comment

Chat With A System Control Operator - Part 2

This week we told you about a series that the Canadian Electricity Association is running about one of our System Control Operators, Myles O'Brien. We posted Part 1 yesterday; here is Part 2.
Energy Supply, Power Outage Updates, Reliability
Jun 26, 2014  Comment

Revised Schedule for Planned Power Outage

To our Mendenhall and Champagne customers: there will be a brief power outage (15 minutes) tomorrow (Friday, June 27th) between 1 and 3 p.m. This outage is necessary so we can complete some upgrades to our system. This outage was originally planned for Monday, June 30th, but crews finished early and so will be doing this final phase of work this Friday instead. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Environment, Reliability, Safety
Jun 27, 2014  2

Watching For Nests

As some people in Dawson City are aware, we are doing some brushing along our transmission line right of ways. Brushing is necessary for reasons of safety and reliability of power service. One of the areas to be brushed is in the vicinity of Henderson Corner. We've had a few calls today from people who are concerned that if we brush right now, the nests of some warblers and other song birds will be destroyed. Please know that we have someone walking the line this afternoon looking very closely for birds' nests. If we find any, we will not do the brushing this week-end as planned but we will delay the work for a few weeks until the birds have left the nests. 
Environment, Reliability, Safety
Jun 27, 2014  Comment

Brushing and Birds

Following up on our post of earlier today, we have had more questions about our practice of brushing and how we ensure the protection of nesting birds. Before we do any brushing, we are required to do a visual inspection to look for nests. If we find any active nests, we ribbon off the area and leave it untouched, and come back to it when we know for sure the birds have left the nest. In cases where we find more than a few nests within the distance between one power pole and another, we will leave that entire span and come back to it later when the birds have left. In terms of the qualifications needed for the crews doing the inspections, they are required to have special training and must be re-certified every two years. This is standard practice with other Canadian utilities. In the case of the brushers working in the Dawson area right now, the contractor does indeed have this training. That being said, if there is a local bird expert who would like to go along with our contractor for any of the inspections, you would be welcome to do that. Please call 393-5333 to arrange. As for the brushing required at Henderson Corner, we have listened to the concerns of some local residents and have decided to wait a couple of weeks to brush this area, to ensure no warbler or other nests are distrubed.
News, Energy Supply, Power Outage Updates, Reliability
Jun 30, 2014  Comment

Outage This Morning

Power is out in parts of Whitehorse and south of the city. We are working to restore as soon as possible. Cause of the outage is under investigation. We apologize for the inconvenience.
News
Jul 03, 2014  Comment

Anti-Spam Legislation

We've had a question about our obligations under the new anti-spam legislation. We checked with our lawyer and were told this new law applies to “commercial electronic messages” designed to encourage participation in commercial activity. Because we are only sending information messages to existing customers (about things like upcoming meetings or planned power outages) and are not soliciting for business, we are not required to seek consent. However if any of you are on one of our existing email lists and wish to be removed, you can certainly have that done at any time by sending us a note with that request.
General, News
Jul 21, 2014  Comment

Latest Water Levels at Marsh Lake

As a courtesy to property owners and residents of the Southern Lakes area, Yukon Energy provides regular water level charts during the summer months that show the current levels and what we expect will happen over the coming weeks. Here is the latest chart.  If you live in the area, you will have noticed that the levels have risen over the last several days. That is as a result of heavy rains on July 3rd.
News, Community Involvement
Jul 21, 2014  Comment

The Kings Are Back!

The first two salmon of the season have arrived in the viewing tanks at our Whitehorse Rapids Fishladder! Visit them in person if you are in the city, or if not, check out our fish-cam!
Safety
Jul 04, 2014  Comment

Stay Safe Around Dams

There are a number of safety hazards associated with hydro electric dams. Please be cautious when around any of our dams or control structures. Here's why: Dams can release water at any time, any day of the year, without warning. This means that calm waters can suddenly turn into rapids with strong undertows that can easily pull you under the water.  Dangerous whirlpools and eddies are often located around dams and hydro generating stations. Waters in the head ponds above hydroelectric dams and stations and the waters directly below them are particularly dangerous. Fast-moving water coming from the station or dam creates dangerous turbulence and strong undercurrents.

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