Picco blames NWT for broken windmill

One of two windmills in Kugluktuk has broken down, said Donald Havioyak, MLA for the community. He asked Ed Picco, the minister of energy, this week, whether it will be fixed.

The windmill was installed by the Northwest Territories government, Picco said, and is the wrong type of machinery for the conditions.

“Under the NWT, windmills were put in haphazardly, with no funding for O&M,” he said.

But the GN has commissioned a “wind map” of Nunavut, which should be completed by the end of the month. That map will tell technicians where the ideal spots for windmills are.

After the locations are determined, the GN plans to install between 10 and 15 windmills, the critical mass required to create enough energy and save enough money to cover the capital costs of the project.

“The windmill in Kugluktuk is old technology,” Picco said. “It’s better to install new windmills, and that’s the plan.”