LNG Workshop Presentations | Thursday, January 19, 2012

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's workshop and public meeting on Liquefied Natural Gas. If you weren't able to be there, all the presentations along with a background paper can be found on our website.

Ask Janet: Confusion Over the Consumption Charts | Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Today's question: When I look at the horizontal bar graph that shows hydro energy available, consumed hydro energy and diesel energy we are using, it looks like we are not using all the available hydro energy, but are using diesel energy. Why is this?

Thanks for your question. We acknowledge this can be a confusing aspect of the chart.

The available hydro (shown in light blue) is what we have the capacity to generate at any given time (in other words, what hydro generation units are available to us that are either running or on stand-by ready to run should we need them). However there are a number of reasons why we can't always use our full capacity before turning on the diesels. For instance, this winter we are limited in terms of what we can generate from our Mayo plants because of potential flooding issues downstream. That shouldn't be the case next winter, but at this particular time we must be careful to keep water flows to a certain limit.

Another reason is that during peak times of the day when demand is rising quickly (breakfast or dinner time), we turn on diesels before we have reached our full hydro capacity to ensure there is no break in service to customers.

Finally, during a power outage you may see that we have hydro available but yet we are burning diesel. That's because we can usually restore power more quickly using diesel than hydro.

We hope this helps clear up the confusion.

Ask Janet - A Question About Street Lights | Monday, January 16, 2012

Today's question for Janet: I would like to know how much energy a street lamp uses (particularly the ones lining the Alaska Highway). Who controls the hours that they are on?

Most of the street lights in Yukon are owned, operated and maintained by Yukon Electrical Company Limited, including the ones along the Alaska Highway, so it would be best if you contacted them to get specific details.

We can however provide you with some general information. Most Yukon streetlights range from between 100 to 400 watts each, depending on the application and type of lighting required (for example highway lights are generally of a higher wattage than downtown lights). The lights have photocells in them that detect low lighting levels and turn on and off accordingly. It is possible that if a photocell gets dirty, the light can stay on all the time until the photocell is cleaned or replaced.

Last year Yukon Energy carried out a pilot project in Dawson City, replacing some of the standard street lighting with LED lights. We found that the LEDs used about two-thirds less power than the standard lighting. We are in the process of reviewing the report that was done on this pilot project to determine next steps with regard to our own street lighting (primarily in Dawson, Mayo and Faro).

Near-Record Breaking Energy Consumption | Monday, January 16, 2012

With Yukon in an Arctic freeze, we are producing almost 80 megawatts of electricity this morning! We haven't seen those kinds of numbers since the Faro mine was in production in the late 1990s.

But there's some good news. Because we are running our new Mayo B powerhouse plus the new hydro generator at our Aishihik plant (Aishihik 3), we are only having to use diesel to generate about six megawatts of power. Without those two new renewable projects, we'd be faced with generating more than 15 megawatts of diesel-generated power.
 

LNG Public Meeting Reminder | Thursday, January 12, 2012

This is a reminder about a public meeting we have planned for next Wednesday evening. Yukon Energy is looking into using liquefied natural gas to transition from diesel to renewable energy options.

You are invited to join us for a frank and open discussion on this subject:

Wednesday January 18, 2012

Gold Rush Inn (Town Hall Room), Whitehorse

7 - 9 p.m.

There'll be presentations from LNG experts plus you'll have a chance to ask questions and share your views. You might be interested in reading the background paper that has been prepared on this subject.

Countdown to the Games | Thursday, January 12, 2012

Yukon Energy is sponsoring the Dene Games and Arctic Sports portion of this year's Arctic Winter Games, which are taking place in Whitehorse from March 4th to 10th. As a lead-up to the games, we thought it would be fun to run a contest to test your knowledge of the games. At stake are some free event tickets and limited edition trading pin sets. To participate in the contest you must first 'like' us on our Facebook page.

Here's how the contest will work: we'll ask one trivia question a week. Post your answer in the comment section of the status update, and if you are correct, your name will go into a hat for a prize. We'll draw one name each week. All answers must be in to us by noon on Friday, and we'll announce the winner that afternoon.

This week's trivia question has already been posted on our Facebook page. Please go take a look, and good luck!

Is Liquefied Natural Gas an Energy Option for Yukon? | Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Yukon  Energy is looking into the possibility of using Liquefied Natural Gas to transition from diesel to renewable energy options. We'd like you to join us for a open and frank discussion on this subject.

You're invited to a public meeting next Wednesday, January 18th from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Gold Rush Inn (Town Hall Room) in Whitehorse.

There'll be presentations from LNG experts and you'll have a chance to ask questions and share your views. We hope you can join us.

Call 393-5333 for more information.
 

Superstar! | Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Are you a closet performer? Now's your chance to let that talent shine.

Yukon Energy is sponsoring a new event at this year's Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival. It's a variety show called "Superstar" and it's taking place on Feb. 23rd, at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse. It's a chance for Yukoners to showcase their emerging talents, and possibly win some prize money.

If you're interested, you will need to submit an audition video to the Rendezvous Society by February 1st. A panel of judges will choose up to fifteen acts to perform at the talent show.

The competition is open to all Yukon residents thirteen years and older.

If you'd like to know more, visit the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival's website.

Delivering the Cheque | Friday, January 6, 2012

Yukon Energy's Shelley Dixon (left) presented a cheque yesterday to Shelley Cuthbert, vice-president of the Humane Society Yukon. The money, just over $7,800, will be used to help the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter. Thank you to everyone who participated in our 'like us on Facebook' campaign. For every person who liked us during December, we donated $1 to the shelter, plus we topped it up with money from our Corporate Contributions budget.   Photo credit: www.archbould.com