The End Product | Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Our newly completed Mayo B hydro plant is now feeding power into our transmission grid. Here are some pictures of the inside of the new power plant. Photo credit: www.archbould.com. 

Photo #1 is an overview of the plant, showing the two hydro generators and turbines (the turbines in royal blue and the generators a greenish-blue colour). Photo #2 is of one of the intakes that allows water to come from an underground pipe (known as the penstock) to the turbine.

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.

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.

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.
 

Cause of the Elsa/Keno Outage | Thursday, January 5, 2012

We reported yesterday that we were flying our transmission line between Mayo and Keno yesterday to try to determine the cause of the most recent outage. We did that, and as suspected, we found that heavy snow was the culprit.

We were helped in our sleuthing by an employee of the Alexco mine, who reported seeing a flash of light on the line near the minesite.

We inspected the area, and found that heavy snow had pressed a conduction down onto a crossarm on one of our poles, causing the outage. We cleared the snow from the conduction and returned it to its proper position, and it is now working as it should.

We re-energized the line at 2:12 yesterday afternoon and the Alexco mine had power very shortly after that. We kep the residents of Keno on our back-up generator as a precautionary measure and they remain on diesel for now. We are watching the weather forecasts and will make a decision soon about whether to put Keno back onto our grid.

Update on the Outage at Keno | Wednesday, January 4, 2012

It has been a difficult few days for people in Elsa and Keno. They have had a lengthy outage earlier this week, and a shorter one this morning. While the power is back on, we understand their frustration, and we want to apologize to them for these outages.

Here is some information to help you understand what has happened over the last few days. Be aware that Yukon Energy transmits the power to Elsa and Keno, and Yukon Electrical Company Ltd. distributes it to customers there (apart from the Alexco mine, which is Yukon Energy's customer). Both utilities have worked closely together to get power restored. Yukon Electrical Company brought in a stand-by diesel generator to Keno, but when it didn't function as it should have, Yukon Energy was able to offer one of our own back-up generators. We used it this morning to get the lights back on in Keno.

In terms of the transmission line, we believe the problem was caused by heavy snow; there have been snow storms in the area over the last several days. We flew the line yesterday and couldn't find anything else that could have been the culprit. We are flying the line again today, this time using fault detectors to help us troubleshoot. They are devices that can be hung on sections of the line and will flash when there is a fault. They help us pinpoint a problem.

Again, we want to apologize to residents and businesses that have been affected by these outages and to assure you we are working as diligently as we can to get the transmission system restored to proper working order.

Outage in Keno | Tuesday, January 3, 2012

For those in Keno City who are currently experiencing a power outage, please know that we are doing everything we can to restore service to you. We have a crew flying over the Elsa line right now to try to find the problem. Also, we are assisting your service provider, Yukon Electrical Company Limited, by delivering another stand-by generator to your community. It should be there by mid-afternoon today.

One way or another, you should have power restored within the next few hours.

Round Two of Our Southern Lakes Workshops | Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Before Christmas we hosted two workshops in Marsh Lake that focussed on the Marsh Lake Storage Concept. We have two more planned for late this month and early next.

WORKSHOP 3: Erosion Effects
The purpose of this workshop is to provide technical information about potential shoreline erosion in relation to the enhanced storage concept.

Saturday, January 21, 2012
12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Marsh Lake Community Centre

WORKSHOP 4: Aquatics and Terrestrial Effects
The purpose of this workshop is to provide technical information about the existing Southern Lakes ecosystem in relation to current water management, and to discuss the potential effects of aquatic and terrestrial species and habitats in relation to the enhanced storage concept.

Saturday, February 4, 2012
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Marsh Lake Fire Hall

Door prizes, food and refreshments will be provided at all workshops.

We are offering free transportation to Carcross and Tagish residents wishing to attend either of these workshops.

To arrange a ride or for more information, call (867) 393-5333, email communications@yukonenergy.ca, or send us a note through this blog.