Nunavut communities slated for renewable energy projects by 2020

Raglan mine’s 120-foot high, thee megawatt wind turbine turns outside the company’s Nunavik mine site last December. (FILE PHOTO)

An network of environmental, research, private business and Inuit groups says it’s working to set up large-scale renewable energy projects in at least three northern communities.

Using funds announced in the last federal budget, the World Wildlife Fund Canada is leading the project to help communities transition to renewable energy, most likely wind or solar power.

The WWF said it plans to release a report later this month to assess the renewable energy potential in 13 Nunavut communities and four communities in the Inuvialuit region of Northwest Territories.

The organization’s plan is to have projects implemented in at least three communities by 2020, the WWF said.

“Diesel use in Arctic communities hurts the environment and costs a lot of money,” said Paul Crowley, the WWF’s vice president of Arctic conservation, in a March 31 release. “It’s not just the climate and air quality threats that we’re concerned about, but the potential for diesel spills when shipping the fuel north.”

“By switching to habitat-friendly renewable energy, communities can become more self-reliant and will be protecting marine environments and the species that depend on them.”

The WWF helped to form the Arctic renewable energy expert committee, made up of another environmental group, Pembina Institute, along with two university-based research programs: the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Alaska Centre for Energy and Power.

The committee also includes Canadian law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Tugliq Energy Co.

Tugliq built and installed a three-megawatt wind turbine at the Glencore Raglan mine site in Nunavik in 2014 — currently the only operating wind turbine in the eastern Canadian Arctic.

In the 18 months it’s been in operation, the wind turbine has offset 3.3 million litres of diesel fuel, the company said, equivalent to 9,300 tonnes of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions.

The project will rely on at least some of the $10.7 million allotted in the federal budget for developing energy projects for Indigenous and northern communities that currently rely on diesel power — currently all 25 Nunavut communities and five of six Inuvialuit communities.

More than 70 communities in Alaska are already on hybrid renewable systems, the WWF said.