Homes light up with solar power in Gjoa Haven
Five houses in hamlet had 5-kilowatt solar panels installed in May
Nudrat Ihsan, Gjoa Haven’s innovation and research projects co-ordinator, and Jimmy Arqviq, building maintenance foreman and clean energy champion, stand outside a home in downtown Gjoa Haven with solar panels installed last month as part of the community’s effort to reduce diesel use and cut energy costs. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)
Jimmy Arqviq is Gjoa Haven’s “clean energy champion.”
He says he remembers the moment LED lights were first installed in the community arena in 2018.
Power bills dropped from $10,000 to $4,000 a month — and something clicked.
Today, thanks to Arqviq’s years of advocacy for clean energy, solar panels are powering that same arena and five homes across Gjoa Haven.
It’s part of a larger push to reduce reliance on diesel that must be shipped into the community during brief summer windows.
“The reason I got into this is mainly because the cost of living and operations are so high up here and I wanted to reduce it,” said Arqviq, who is a participant in the federal government’s Indigenous Off-Diesel Initiative.
He also works as the hamlet’s building maintenance foreman.
In May, five homes in Gjoa Haven, chosen through a lottery, received solar panels. These systems, each five kilowatts, are designed to meet most of a household’s annual electricity needs.
The photovoltaic system’s inverter and control box, installed on a home in Gjoa Haven convert solar energy into electricity. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)
The panels were provided at no cost to homeowners, thanks to grant funding secured with support from federal programs like Northern Reache and the non-profit organization Indigenous Clean Energy.
“In Gjoa Haven, community support was excellent, as they have a strong self-interest and the individual homeowners are the primary beneficiaries,” said Klaus Dohring, president of Green Sun Rising Inc., the developer behind the installations.
The company has deployed solar systems in over two-thirds of Nunavut’s communities, with recent installations in Arctic Bay, Clyde River and Pond Inlet.
The company also plans to install a bi-directional meter in each home, to connect all five solar panel systems to the Qulliq Energy Corp. grid under “net metering,” meaning residents will also receive credit for excess power their systems generate.
“On a sunny afternoon, when you generate a lot and you consume little, you export into the grid for future credit. And in the future, when you generate less and you consume more, you use up credit,” said Dohring.
Already showing significant returns is the 10-kilowatt system at Gjoa Haven’s community arena, installed in 2019 by Green Sun Rising.
Solar panels generating 10 kilowatts were installed on the roof of the Gjoa Haven arena in 2019. The system produces about 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, helping save roughly $30,000 a year in diesel costs. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)
That solar panel system offsets about $30,000 per year in diesel costs, said Nudrat Ihsan, the innovation and research projects co-ordinator with the hamlet.
The hamlet also plans to install solar panels on its garage, which currently faces power bills of $9,000 per month.
For Arqviq, using clean energy was something he grew up with.
“I always knew about renewable energy, as we used wind turbines in our outpost camp,” he said.
As well, he said, climate change is something Inuit have long understood.
“My grandparents, who passed away over 30 years ago, used to tell me, ‘Don’t be surprised when people start going crazy about global warming.’ They knew it would become warm again,” he said.
Arqviq joined the Indigenous Clean Energy’s 20/20 Catalysts Program in 2019, as part of its first cohort.
As one of their selected communities, Gjoa Haven received $1.6 million from Impact Canada to support a range of local clean energy activities — from education and training to solar installations and long-term planning.
As an Indigenous Off-Diesel Initiative energy champion, Arqviq said the program gave him the tools and connections to turn clean energy from an idea into a reality.
“I would never be as successful as I am today if it wasn’t for the people that are helping me,” he said. “You could have a lot of money, but if you don’t have professionals helping you, giving you ideas on how to budget your funding, I would have spent that $1.6 million years ago.”
However, talking about “saving our environment” is meaningless without hands-on experience and seeing the benefits of clean energy, Arqviq said.
To help bridge that gap, he has distributed solar generators to cabin owners who live on the land for much of the summer.
“Instead of using gas all the time, this helps them understand how to reduce fossil fuel use,” he said. Many hunters have told him they’re now coming home with extra gas.
He has also ordered electric ice augers and winter cabin wind turbines to help residents better engage in renewable technology.
“My dream is that every home in Gjoa Haven will have a solar panel,” Arqviq said.
Great story, now needs to be Nunavut wide, how come no stores use solar, I know for a fact some stores have 30k monthly power bills that play a part in the high food prices. Solar has always been a debate, like wondering how the metal roof will hold up after all the punctures from the mounts, how will insurance companies handle it? Will power corp let more that 10% payback to the accounts, they were fighting to limit the amounts.. and last question what happened to Kugluktuks solar power corp plant, not even a hole dug yet, Guess there waiting for the sub review of the review from the review of reviewing.
There are solar installations across Nunavut popping up in all sorts of locations.
Nunavut Arctic College had solar panels installed in 1993 and saved more than $250,000 dollars over the past thirty two years..
In Iqaluit there are about ten homes benefitting from reduced electricity costs by installing solar panels.
Tremendous to learn other community homes are expanding this way too.
The people who are saving money on their power bills with solar panels are simply depriving the public utility of revenues and passing most of the costs onto other ratepayers.
They also weaken the local grid and make it more prone to expensive outages.
This is not the solution we need.
It is so awesome seeing all your hard work and planning for clean energy in the community turn into installed, operating projects, for both the Hamlet and home owners! So happy for you and Gjoa Haven, Jimmy!!!!