The time is right for renewable energy in the North

A wind turbine at Glencore’s Raglan Mine in Nunavik. Next week, WWF-Canada will co-host a summit meeting on renewable energy in the Arctic, from Sept. 15 to Sept. 17. (FILE PHOTO)

PAUL CROWLEY

IQALUIT — In a bid to slow climate change, the world is making the transition to renewable energy, and investors are following.

Last year, for the first time, investment in alternative energy surpassed fossil fuel projects. Yet in the Canadian Arctic, where the effects of climate change are pronounced, there are only a handful of buildings with solar panels, and very few examples of community-scale renewable energy solutions.

Scale is important— by embracing and adopting renewable energy as a significant source of power for communities, we can create local resilience, sustainability and independence.

Over the years, many dismissed such ambitious projects as far-fetched fantasy in a cold, harsh environment. To date, the two most successful renewable energy projects in Canada’s North are at mine sites.

Alaska and Russia are proving it is possible at the community level. Alaska has already successfully connected grid-scale renewables to 70 remote communities.

And in Russia, the first stage of the largest solar power station in the Far North went into operation producing 1.2 million KWh of electricity. That’s enough energy to cover a third of electricity needs of Sanikiluaq, a Nunavut community of about 800 people.

As a country, Canada has some of the greatest renewable energy potential on the planet. WWF-Canada is committed to seeing Canada use 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 and the Arctic is part of that vision.

We recently teamed up with leading researchers at the Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Energy to assess the economic feasibility of deploying renewable energy in 13 communities in Nunavut. The results are promising. For five communities in particular, the business case for renewable energy deployment is especially strong.

In those communities, the initial investment in renewable energy could be paid for through the approximately 40 per cent reduction in diesel fuel costs.

It’s time to take the next step. In response to this research, WWF-Canada is co-hosting an Arctic Renewable Energy Summit in Iqaluit this September with the Qulliq Energy Corp., the Government of Nunavut, and the Government of Canada—which, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, committed this year to reduce dependence on diesel in remote communities.

The summit will bring all the key decision makers together under one roof to expedite the process of renewable energy integration in the Canadian Arctic.

For centuries, Arctic people have been harvesting the surrounding land and waters to survive and thrive.

Then diesel energy came. Although reliable, diesel energy is dirty, producing greenhouse gas emissions that threaten the environment we depend upon.

Spills are difficult to contain and clean, and reliance on diesel subjects us to the whims of an international pricing system far beyond our control. The price of oil may be low now, but that won’t always be the case.

It’s time to move beyond diesel, to regain self-autonomy, to protect the Arctic environment.

We can do that by harvesting habitat-friendly energy from the wind and the sun.

Paul Crowley is the vice president of Arctic conservation at WWF-Canada. He is a long-time resident of Iqaluit.