(Yellowknife, NT – December 20, 2013) Providing clean, reliable, and socially acceptable power for communities and industry is the vision of the Government of the Northwest Territories, as described in their just released Vision for the NWT Power System Plan (“the Vision”).
“Expanding the NWT grid to connect our existing hydro systems with communities, industry and the rest of Canada will create the backbone transmission infrastructure necessary to transform our energy system, support the potential expansion of the Taltson Hydro facility and unlock our enormous hydro potential,” said Minister Michael Miltenberger, Minister Responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Key elements of the Vision include:
• Existing hydro systems at Snare and Taltson will be connected, which will improve reliability, shift two diesel communities to hydropower and consolidate surplus hydro resources;
• The grid will be extended northeast towards established mines in the Slave Geological Province in order to attract the customer base needed to support the investment and benefit electricity rates;
• The model proposes that the public sector own the transmission network while individual mine customers will pay for transmission spurs to feed into the Grid; and
• The grid will be connected to the south in Saskatchewan or Alberta to stabilize the system and tie the NWT into the North American grid.
“Expansion of the power transmission grid is long overdue and we are delighted to see the NWT Government make it a priority,” said Brooke Clements, President of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines. “The lack of infrastructure in the North makes it one of the highest cost jurisdictions in which to work. Not only must new mines provide their own transportation infrastructure, but they must also generate their own power, given the lack of power transmission grids. Implementation of this Vision will make the NWT more competitive, and more attractive for investment in mineral exploration and resource development. We look forward to seeing it become a reality.”
The NWT Power Plan can be downloaded from this website or by clicking directly here.
The Backgrounder can be downloaded here. A map of the key elements is attached to the original news release.
For more information on the NWT and Nunavut mining industries, please visit the website at www.miningnorth.com or contact Tom Hoefer, Executive Director at Tel: 867-873-5281 or email: executivedirector@miningnorth.com.