Overnight Power Outage | Wednesday, July 28, 2010

People in parts of Whitehorse (Riverdale, a portion of Porter Creek, Crestview), those living along the Mayo Road, and residents of Carmacks, Ross River, Pelly and Faro lost power for a short while overnight. Most people had their power restored within a few minutes. Residents in the north part of the city had their power returned in less than half an hour.

The cause of the outage was a tree that fell on our transmission line to Faro. The tree has since been removed and the hydro system is back to normal.

Yukon Energy apologizes for this outage and the inconvenience it may have caused you.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Reliability

The Latest Marsh Levels | Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Here is our weekly update on the summer water levels on Marsh Lake. Please contact us if you have any questions.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Environment

Fishing for Information | Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Yukon Energy is currently looking into the possibility of using additional water from Mayo Lake for power production at the Mayo
generating plant. Before we know if this is feasible we must study the lake’s ecosystem to better understand what the potential effects might be.

To that end Yukon Energy recently finished a fish gillnetting program, aimed at providing information about the health and age class strength of the lake’s trout and whitefish. This is similar to studies done on Aishihik Lake every five to ten years.
The number of fish allowed for capture was set after consulting with the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun (NND), Yukon Fisheries and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. In total 346 lake trout and 408 lake whitefish were processed.
Biologists took the otoliths (small bones located in the head that allows scientists to determine the fish’s age). Then the NND distributed most of the fish to people in the community.
Once we have the final results of the study we will share the information with NND, Yukon Fisheries, Fisheries and Oceans and other interested parties.
 Photo: NND summer student Charles Blysak helps with the gillnetting.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Environment

Looking For Firewood? | Wednesday, July 21, 2010

During the initial clearing at Yukon Energy's Mayo B site more than 110 cords of spruce, pine, and birch were salvaged. This material is now available by permit from the Yukon government’s Natural Resource Office in Mayo (996-2343) for personal use only. The wood is available on a first come, first served basis.

 

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Setting Up Shop in Atlin | Monday, July 19, 2010

Yukon Energy is opening a temporary office in Atlin, B.C.  A staff member will be at the Atlin Recreation Centre every Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. between now and mid-September. The purpose is to give local residents a chance to speak with us face to face on a regular basis about the work we are doing in Atlin.

Our phone number in Atlin is (250) 651-0052. We will have an answering machine and will return all calls.

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Mid-July Water Levels | Monday, July 19, 2010

Here is the latest summer lake level forecast for Marsh Lake. Please contact us if you have any questions about this chart.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Environment

Into the Wind | Friday, July 16, 2010

As is the case for all Yukon Energy's equipment, repairing our wind turbines on Haeckel Hill takes special skills and knowledge. But along with the technical know-how comes the need to have steady nerves. Hanging in a metal basket 30 metres from the ground is not for the faint of heart.

Bill Haydock, Justin Kolla and Les Rowland are three of Yukon Energy's employees who are trained and comfortable working from heights. They recently went up to the top of the smaller of our two wind turbines, the Bonus A/G, to make some repairs. “No, heights don’t bother me in the slightest,” Les said. “In fact there have been times when I’ve gone up the Vestas (our larger wind turbine) in winter, crawled on top of the nacelle (the area that contains the generator) and slid down to the back end to replace instruments. My wife just shakes her head!”
 
Of course any employee doing this work must be equipped with all the necessary safety gear, including a harness known as a fall arrest system. And Bill is quick to point out that no employees are forced to do aerial work. “We give people the choice. We would never send them up if they’re afraid of heights.”
 
In the case of the Bonus turbine, the job involved two separate tasks. The external ladder that leads to the generator had become damaged as a result of a guy-wire rubbing against it in the wind. Bill and Les used a crane and metal basket to remove the ladder and slowly and carefully lower it to the ground. They were then able to better assess its damage, and determine if it could be repaired or if it needed to be replaced. They decided a new ladder was necessary and one has been ordered and will be installed shortly. 
 
While they were busy doing that, Justin was in the nacelle replacing a damaged control wire. He says teamwork made the job straightforward. “It really wasn’t bad at all with the three of us working together. Les and Bill steadied the man-basket so I could crawl in and out of the nacelle.” Justin has some off-site help too. A phone call to Maintenance Electrician Nick Balderas helped troubleshoot and find the problem.
 
Thankfully it was a beautiful day and wind speeds stayed low throughout the morning as the crew did their work. They were down off the mountain by lunch time. Scary work for some of us perhaps, but for these three it was just another day on the job.
 
 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Energy Supply

Field Work on the Gladstones | Friday, July 9, 2010

There’s a creek and a chain of four small lakes in the Aishihik area known as the Gladstone system. Normally this region doesn’t see many people. However over the last few weeks a group of scientists has been stationed there gathering information that will help Yukon Energy determine the viability of a potential hydro project.

The idea, which Yukon Energy refers to as the Gladstone Diversion Concept, would involve putting in a control structure that would change the direction that the Gladstone Creek and Lakes flow. Instead of all the water going into the Yukon River drainage system as it does now, some of it would flow into Sekulmun and Aishihik Lakes, providing water to produce additional power at our Aishihik hydro plant. It could give Yukon Energy up to an extra 18 gigawatt hours of hydroelectricity annually, or almost five percent of Yukon Energy's current energy production per year (we produce approximately 370 gigawatt hours annually).
Yukon Energy is working with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and the Kluane First Nation on this concept (the area is within the traditional territory of the Champagne, Aishihik and Kluane First Nations). But there is much research that needs to be done before we can determine if it’s a viable project. That’s where the scientists come in. They have been doing a number of studies looking at the health of the fish, the types of parasites found in both water systems, and the hydrology (water flows) in the area. Other work includes doing rare plant and amphibian surveys and studying the movement of large animals such as moose, caribou, sheep and bison.
Below are photos of some of the summer work being done at Gladstone this year. Photo 1: Stefan Iwasawa from the Centre of Coastal Health and Photo 2: Stefan and Kathy Baynes from the Pacific Biological Station take samples to determine the health of the fish and to learn what parasites are in the water systems. The good news is that early results show the same organisms exist in both systems, so there should not be any significant health concerns with connecting the two water systems. Photo 3: A field crew takes measurements of the water flows.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Environment

Latest Water Levels on Marsh | Friday, July 9, 2010

Here is this week's water level chart for Marsh Lake. Please let us know if you have any questions about it.

» 0 Comments     » Topics: Environment

‘One Fish, Two Fish’ - Part 2 | Wednesday, July 7, 2010

If you have followed this blog for a while you will know that last summer about ninety Yukoners helped created an art piece for our Whitehorse Rapids fishladder as a way of marking the facility's 50th anniversary. The piece was entitled 'One Fish, Two Fish'. It proved to be so popular that we decided to have a second school of salmon created. With financial assistance from the Yukon River Panel we were able to distribute wooden fish to six schools around the territory. We are delighted with what the students did with the salmon! Many thanks to Donald Watt, who was the coordinator of this project, and to about 300 students at the following schools:

Eliza Van Bibber School in Pelly Crossing
Ghuch Tla Community School in Carcross
Robert Service School in Dawson City
St. Elias Community School in Haines Junction
Teslin School in (of course) Teslin
Ecole Emilie-Tremblay in Whitehorse

The art piece has been assembled and is now available for viewing at our fishladder in the same area where Part 1 is located. If you are in Whitehorse please drop by and take a look. We'd love to hear if you have a favourite fish among them. We are rather partial to the ones that are swimming upside down and backwards! See if you can spot them in the photos below.
 

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