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In developed regions, an efficient and reliable energy supply can be taken for granted. The resource is so common that many don’t consider the massive operation behind the click of a switch. In Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT), that process is complicated due to the region’s extreme winter weather and sparse population. Northwest Territories Power Corp. (NTPC) is the territory’s regulated utility provider. It may seem that the smaller the community, the easier it is on the supplier, but as President David Axford explains, that is not the case.

To draw comparison, Axford notes that the 440,000-square-mile NWT is about two-thirds the size of Alaska. Even so, NWT has a population of 43,000 while Alaska has 710,231 residents. “In NWT there is one person per 10 square miles,” he says. “It’s a sparse population here – very sparse – and that’s really where the challenge comes. One thing we really focus on is trying to create consistent and reliable service.”

Energy for All

Because of its dispersed population, an integrated transmission system for the entire region is not economically feasible. Instead, NTPC operates 28 separate power systems. Some communities use hydroelectricity, while others rely on thermal energy from diesel or natural gas generators.

NTPC is fully integrated to generate, transmit and distribute power, though in a few areas it sources private companies as its distributer. It has
an installed hydro capacity of 55 megawatts and a diesel installed capacity of more than 70 megawatts, and can handle a peak load of nearly 64 megawatts between its 55-megawatt hydro district and its 8-megawatt thermal district. The thermal district is comprised of several communities powered by diesel generators.

“Because of how far it is between some of our thermal district communities, it is not interconnected,” Axford says. “We operate in 16 different communities there, and each community [has] its own diesel generation and distribution system.” The diesel generators range from a 70-kilowatt to a 1-megawatt powerhouse.

Going Hydro

Since 1990, NTPC has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 58 percent. It has received a gold designation from Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Registry for the past 10 years.

“We are working on alternative energies, but here the biggest challenge that we’re having is trying to do it in a way and scale to make it affordable for the customer,” Axford says.

One way it aims to achieve this is by leveraging its readily available hydroelectricity capabilities. At its Taltson hydro plant, which is 64 kilometers north of Fort Smith on the Taltson River, NTPC is in the environmental assessment stage of expanding the plant’s capabilities. It currently has an 18-megawatt hydro unit and is supported in Fort Smith by a 6-megawatt standby diesel powerhouse and a 300-kilowatt standby diesel generator, but the plan is to increase the Taltson plant by 54 megawatts.

“At Taltson, we are using an existing reservoir and this project will just make better use of the reservoir,” Axford says. “There’s potential in looking to increase our low impact hydro [systems]. We are looking at interconnecting to other areas in order to increase reliability and in a way to help us capitalize on some of our generation opportunities. We estimate that our territory has over 2,000 megawatts of potential hydropower.”

In its effort to switch to low-impact hydro and natural gas where possible, the company has cut diesel energy by 75 percent and increased hydroelectricity to 79 percent of all energy it produces since 1990. NTPC has re­duced its greenhouse gas emission by 53 percent from the 1990 levels. Axford says hydro generation may not be the cheapest way to produce power in the short term, but it is economically possible, and with the reduced environmental impact, the premiums are worth it to many NWT residents.

“There isn’t a locale yet that has come up with an alternative energy such as wind and solar that has been cheaper than conventional generation,” he says. “In the end the use of alternative energy sources is  a choice that governments and consumers will have to make. Are  they are willing to pay the premium necessary to support alternative energy? We will continue to work to make the options as efficient and reliable as we can.”