It is large, bold and expensive: only the type of project that would seem to comply with the moment of the call of Prime Minister Mark Carney for construction projects of the Nation of the Canada Ministers.
At the end of last month, the governments of Yukon and BC signed a committed memorandum to work together to study the idea of an electric line of 765 kilometers that would connect the territory with the rest of the North American electricity grid. Ottawa is putting $ 40 million to help finance a feasibility study.
And earlier this week, Yukon Ranj Pillai’s prime minister pressed both his fellow federal cabinet ministers for infrastructure money, even for the connection of the network.
“A intent network between Yukón and British columbia is something extremely expensive,” Pillai acknowledged this week. “It is an important project, but it is a nation’s construction project.”
But is it a good idea?
A 2016 study put the cost of a line to ISKUT, BC, at $ 1.7 billion. Yukon’s government admits that the cost has only increased since then, but a Whitehorse engineer says he is worried that officials do not completely understand how expensive the project will really be.
John Maissan said that a decade of inflation would put the cost at more than $ 2.1 billion today. But he said that it makes more sense to calculate the growth of costs using the practical Whitman index, which specifically tracks the costs of electrical equipment and installation.
Using that index, Maissan said the cost is likely to exceed $ 3.2 billion and even that could be a conservative estimate. And unless Ottawa is willing to pay the entire capital cost of the project, said Yukon consumers could face large rates increases, in addition to one already before the Yukon Services Board.
“I think at this time, in current conditions, it simply does not add,” said Maissan.
The idea, from the Yukon side, is to take advantage of the BC grid for a new electricity supply, generated mainly by BC Hydro. But Maissan said that it is not even clear that BC would have the sale power to sell.
“I understand that its renewable energy is quite compromised and any surplus that they may have for any reason that is generally sold, I think, in California, where electricity rates are much higher,” he said.
Vancouver Sun reported Wednesday that BC Energy Minister Adrian Dix issued a call to private sector projects to add base energy to the provincial energy network, since the government also plans to close the natural gas power plants to help meet the emissions objectives.
The province is also trying to accelerate important projects, including critical mineral mines, which will have important energy requirements. Yukón is trying to present itself as an important source of critical minerals, with Pillai promoting “a potential of $ 200 billion in mineral production.”
“This is mining, these are sustainable energy sources for the yukón so that there can be growth,” he said. “There will be growth.”
Pillai denied that the grid tie is related to any mining project. But the Casino project, a massive Gold-Silver-Copper-Molybdenum plan planned for Crown Land to the northwest of Carmacks, will need large amounts of energy. And the $ 40 million for the feasibility study of the network grid come from a Federal Fund to promote the critical development of minerals.
Documents of the Project Casino company will need a 200 MW generation capacity. In comparison, the existing capacity in the Yukón is 148 MW. At this time, Western Copper and Gold, the company behind the casino, plans to build its own electric power plants that would be executed with liquefied natural gas, with a small amount of diesel support.
Western Copper and Gold would also surely issue a press release that welcomes with the welcome to the $ 40 million for the study of the grid tie.
“A possible future route for the power of the hydroelectric network would be transformative, allowing critical projects to occur while minimizing their carbon footprint,” said CEO Sandeep Singh.
But the casino is years after regulatory approval, if not production. The company is expected to present its environmental and socioeconomic statement to the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Evaluation Board in July and the project is experiencing a panel review, the most exhaustive level of regulatory detection in the territory.
Rosa Brown, an energy analyst at the Pembina Institute, said that the large scale of the network tie project could be what makes it attractive to Ottawa.
“The words that are being used [are] Energy security, resistance, such things, “he said.” So it definitely seems to be under the mandate of what we are listening to the federal government. “
But Maisson, the retired engineer, believes that he would make more sense than the Yukón takes care of his own energy needs with smaller projects such as grid scale batteries hooked to eolic turbines and the expansion of Atlin Hydro.
“The federals would not have to pay for the total cost of these projects, but helping them could make them economical and could maintain our long -term stable electricity prices,” he said.
