We Have Things Well in Hand | Friday, March 12, 2010

We thought you might be interested in learning more about what Yukon Energy is doing to meet the electrical needs of Yukoners now and into the future. Our latest strategic plan lays out our priorities for the next two years. You can read the full plan here. In a nutshell, here are the four main areas we are focussing on:

Reliable Power
The goal is to reduce the number of controllable outages and make our system more efficient. Two thirds of the core capital budget is being dedicated to reliability improvements for the next five years.

Carcross Meeting | Monday, March 8, 2010

As you may know, we have been holding a series of public meetings in the Southern Lakes area to tell residents about our work to find more clean, renewable energy to meet the growing demand for electricity. Our latest meeting is set for this Wednesday night, March 10th, at 7 p.m. in Carcross. The meeting will take place at the Carcross Community Club. It will give people a chance to ask questions about an idea we have to increase winter storage on Marsh and Atlin Lakes, therefore providing more water to our Whitehorse plant in the late winter, when we need it the most for electrical generation.

It's important for you to understand that no decisions have been made to move forward with this concept. We must first gather a lot of information to determine if it is a viable project. Input from you will help determine how best to move forward. We hope to see as many Carcross residents at the meeting as possible.

Tending to Our Wind Turbines | Friday, February 19, 2010

As you may know, Yukon Energy has two experimental wind turbines on Haeckel Hill near Whitehorse. Together, they can power up to 150 homes. This week an article in the Yukon News stated that our wind turbines have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect. That is a false statement and we feel it's important that we correct the record.  Here are a few pieces of information we would like you to know:

• If you look up at Haeckel Hill and see that the turbine blades aren't turning, that doesn't necessarily mean the turbines are broken. They will not generate power if there’s not enough wind, if there’s too much wind, or if there is rime ice on the blades which prevents them from turning. Rime icing is a huge challenge for us. We have tried a number of things to address this issue including applying special paint to the blades to try to repel the ice, and heating the blades. Nothing has worked very well.
   
• At times when the turbines require repair, it’s not always possible to do so right away. In the winter especially, it is often unsafe for staff to do repairs and we must wait until weather conditions improve before we will allow employees to do the work. Safety is always the first priority.

• Many of the parts on a wind turbine are not simple, off the shelf components; they need to be ordered from elsewhere – often either the U.S. or Europe – and they can take several weeks to arrive.

• There is not a crane in the Yukon big enough to use for repairs on the wind turbines. A few years ago we required a crane and had to bring one up from Southern Canada at a cost of $180-thousand dollars.
   
• In terms of our maintenance schedule, we do regular maintenance on our wind turbines just as we do on all our other assets. We are very conscious of the fact that Yukon Energy's assets belong to all Yukoners and that we have a duty to maintain them properly.
   

In spite of the challenges we face with wind, we are still looking at it as one part of an overall clean, renewable energy regime. We are studying Ferry Hill near Stewart Crossing as a possible site for a wind farm and we are also looking at the possibility of a 20 megawatt wind farm at Mt. Sumanik near Whitehorse. But under the best conditions, wind only operates 30 percent of the time. So that means for every megawatt of wind power we build, we need to build a megawatt of something else, since it is needed for the 70 percent of the time that the wind turbines aren't producing power.

Public Meeting at Tagish | Monday, February 15, 2010

Tagish property owners and residents are invited to a public meeting this Wednesday evening (Feb. 17th) at 7 p.m. at the Tagish Community Centre. We'll be talking to you about some ideas we have for increasing the amount of hydro power we can produce at our Whitehorse plant. These ideas involve increased winter storage on Marsh Lake and some winter storage on Atlin Lake. Please contact us through this blog if you require more information. Hope to see you there.

A Mild Week | Monday, February 15, 2010

So far 2010's weather has been relatively mild for most areas of Yukon. That means we have had to use very little diesel over the last several weeks to supplement our hydro system. Nonetheless, we always encourage customers to treat electricity as the precious resource that it is and to use it responsibly and wisely. Here you'll find this week's expected power usage on our transmission line that serves much of the Southern and Central Yukon.

We have had suggestions from a few of you about ways of improving the readibility of this chart. We think your ideas are good ones and we are working to make your suggested changes. Stay tuned!

Be Prepared! | Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Winter storms, power outages, floods...no one likes to have to deal with unexpected situations like this. But the more planning you do and the better prepared you are prior to any emergency, the easier it will be to cope once one does occur. That's why we have produced a Yukon Emergency Preparedness booklet. If you live in Yukon, watch for a paper copy in English to arrive in your mailbox in the next few weeks. French copies will be available upon request.

We would like to thank Manitoba Hydro, Yukon's Emergency Measures Organization and the Yukon government's French Language Services Directorate for their assistance with this project.

This Week’s Projected Energy Usage | Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Throughout the winter, we have been providing regular updates as to what we think the upcoming weekly power usage will be on our Whitehorse-Aisihihik-Faro transmission system. This week's forecast can be found here.

Squeezing the Most out of What We Have | Tuesday, February 2, 2010

As we work to meet the growing demand for electricity, we are committed to meeting that demand with clean energy. We feel it is our obligation to ensure, as much as possible, that the power we produce is from renewable sources. We believe that Northerners have a collective interest in keeping the environment clean.

To this end, Yukon Energy is looking at all possible sources of renewable energy, including geo-thermal, wind, and the enhancement of our existing hydro assets. Before we build any new hydro dams we want to make sure we are getting the most out of our existing facilities, since enhancement projects are far less expensive and have a smaller environmental footprint than new greenfield initiatives. At our Mayo plant, our enhancement work is in the form of our Mayo B project. At our Aishihik facility, we are adding a third turbine and looking to divert some water from Gladstone Creek to increase the amount of electricity we are able to produce. In Whitehorse, we have begun exploring the idea of  increased winter storage on both Marsh Lake and Atlin Lake. To learn more we invite you to read this newsletter that outlines the concepts. Please contact us if you have any questions.

This Year’s Business Plan | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

For those of you who are interested, Yukon Energy's 2010 Business Plan is now available on-line. It can be found here.