Power Outage? | Monday, December 20, 2010

Today's question: any news on when the power outage in the 500 block between Strickland and Jarvis will be resolved?

Answer: The outage is not a result of any problems from the generation side of things. I suggest you contact the distributor (Yukon Electrical Company Ltd.) for information about this outage.

Improvements to the Consumption Chart? | Friday, December 17, 2010

Today's question: Your 12-hour residential consumption graph is very useful for understanding demand in peak hours. It would be even better if the graph was extended to 24 hours, and a second graph was shown for weekly or monthly consumption. Any chance of getting these graphs on the website?

The short answer is yes. We hope to make these improvements early in 2011.

Why The Diesel? | Thursday, December 16, 2010

Over the last few days we have been asked by a number of people why we are burning so much diesel in Dawson City. While we have for the last few years had to burn a certain amount of diesel in Dawson to meet the demand, we are burning more this winter than usual. How much more? In 2008 we burned approximately 119,000 litres of deisel on the Mayo-Dawson grid. In 2009 we burned 138,500 litres. By the end of December of this year we expect to have burned 550,000 litres.

To help put that into perspective, a B-train typically carries 47,000 litres of fuel, so the 2010 diesel consumption in Dawson will likely amount to about 11 B-trains worth of fuel.

There are a couple of reasons why we are burning more diesel this year. The Alexco mine is now a customer, using approximately 1.5 megawatts of power. The hydro plant in Mayo is, under normal circumstances, able to produce up to five megawatts of power. Any demand beyond that must be met with diesel. Even without the Alexco mine on line, there have been times when we haven't had enough hydro to meet the power needs of our residential/commercial/government customers. That's when we've had to turn on the diesels. With Alexco in production, the diesels are working even more.

In addition, some ice formations on the Mayo River are forcing us to reduce our flow through the Mayo hydro generators. Currently we can only produce four megawatts of hydro instead of the usual five. Less hydro capacity means more diesel burned.

Yukon Energy certainly doesn't like having to burn diesel. This situation highlights how important Mayo B and the Carmacks-Stewart Transmission Line projects are. The new Mayo plant will give us 10 megawatts of additional hydro. It should be in service by the end of 2011 or early 2012. The Carmacks-Stewart line, with an expected in-service date of May 2011, will allow us to manage our transmission grids as one integrated system, meaning we will have the ability to send surplus hydro from one part of the system to another and we will need to rely less on diesel.

Even when these two projects are completed we will have much more work to do in our quest to become diesel-free. That is why we are working so hard to find new sources of clean energy, including geo-thermal, wind, waste-to-energy, and additional hydro.

The other important piece is Demand Side Management, also known as energy conservation. We hope to roll out a comprehensive Demand Side Management program next year that will address ways that Yukon Energy can be as efficient as possible, and ways of helping our customers conserve power and save money. In the meantime, we ask that you be aware that we are burning diesel and use your electricity as wisely as possible.

One final point: some Yukoners have labeled our mining customers 'the bad guys' in all this, saying that we wouldn't have to burn diesel if it weren't for the mines in operation. It's important that you realize that there is growth on the system from all customers and not just industrial customers. Remember what a busy construction season Dawson City had this past summer and fall? All those new buildings require power.

Also, Yukon Energy has an obligation to serve. That means that as long as a customer pays the costs of hooking up to our transmission system, we must supply them with power, no matter if they are one household or a mine. You should also know that the mines pay more than 100 percent of the amount it costs us to provide them with electricity, so they are not getting a 'free ride' as some have suggested. In addition, the Minto mine paid $7.2 million towards the cost of the Carmacks-Stewart line, which Yukoners will benefit from for many years. In the case of the Alexco mine, our agreement with them (which is currently being reviewed by the Yukon Utilities Board) sees them paying an additional $7,300 per month for as long as they buy power from us. That money is to be used to help pay the on-going costs of our Mayo to Keno transmission line.

News on the Marsh Lake Winter Storage Concept | Thursday, December 16, 2010

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will know Yukon Energy is doing research into the possibility of enhanced winter storage on Marsh Lake. Our latest Marsh Lake newsletter gives information about what we have learned so far, what we still need to find out, and what our next steps will be. Give it a read and let us know if you have any questions.

The Latest on Atlin and Gladstone | Friday, December 10, 2010

We invite you to read our latest newsletters regarding the Atlin and Gladstone concepts. As always, let us know if you have questions once you've read these publications.

Tracking Consumption | Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Yukon Energy has a new tool on our website. It's a chart that shows, in near real time (updated hourly), just how much energy is being consumed and whether we are having to burn any diesel to meet the demand. A second chart shows the energy consumption over the last 12 hours.

These charts are for our Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid that serves most of the central and southern Yukon. However we are in the process of producing similar charts for our Mayo-Dawson grid.

Take a look and let us know if you find these charts useful.

Yukon Energy Versus Yukon Electrical Company Limited | Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Today's question: Can you tell me what the difference is between Yukon Energy and the other utility? I thought there was only one government-owned electrical company.

You are not alone. Many people confuse Yukon Energy with Yukon Electrical Company Limited, especially since our names are very similar. An earlier blog posting talks about the differences between the two of us. You can read it here.