Yukon plots course for long-term hydro power needs

The Yukon Development Corporation is trying to identify hydroelectric projects that will meet the territory's growing demand over the next 20to 50years.

Lisa Badenhorst, project manager for YDC, saidconsultants are currently scouting areas with existing hydro potential.

"They found that they had almost 200 different sites and they started going through that and looking at whether or not they're real sites or one iteration shown up several times," she said. "They'll be trying to get that down to a short list of whichsites will get the actual detail done on them."

YDC will file a business case for one to three new hydro dams next year. Construction wouldn't start for at least 10years. Badenhorst told a meeting in Whitehorse that's because the process of building those power plants requires extensive study, including ways to finance the projects andsocio-economic and environmental impact studies. There will also be extensive consultations with First Nations, she said.

It isn't clear how much electricity Yukon will need over the next five decades, but a YDC work plan published in May predicts demand will outstrip existing hydro supply by 2022. If the shortfall isn't made up with renewable energy, Yukon Energy will have to burn more diesel and liquefiednatural gas to keep the lights on.

To prevent that, Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall told the Whitehorse meeting, the utility will be rolling out renewable projects to generate between five and 10 megawatts of additional capacity, including what he called "mid-scale" hydro and wind power.

Hall said the utility would release details soon about wind power expansion that would go ahead in 2015.