Who’s paying for Iqaluit’s hydro future?
A bit of federal money gets the wheels turning, but an Iqaluit hydroelectricity generator will require hundreds of millions of dollars to build
Premier P.J. Akeeagok; Gary Anandasangeree, the federal minister of Northern Affairs; Olayuk Akesuk, president of Qikiqtani Inuit Association; Harry Flaherty, president and CEO of Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp.; and Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa pose for a photo after a funding announcement for the proposed hydroelectric plant in Iqaluit. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Everyone`s familiar with “in for a penny, in for a pound,” but what about in for a watt, in for a megawatt?
The $6 million in federal funding for a hydroelectricity project in Iqaluit that Northern Affairs Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced Tuesday is a drop in the bucket for an electricity generator whose total costs have been pegged at between $300 million and $500 million.
No doubt, the price tag has gone up since then; the price of everything has.
Before Iqaluit gets too far down the road to build a hydroelectricity generator, we should know who’s going to pay for it.
Anandasangaree’s $6 million is meant to cover the cost of engineering and design work — the stuff that has to happen before the really expensive work of putting shovels in the ground can happen.
But why spend $6 million on design now unless you’re ready to commit $500 million for construction later?
The federal government chipped in $7 million in 2021, at the beginning of the project. So, Ottawa is already in for $13 million on a project whose proponents say they’re counting on government funding to build.
Money to build a hydroelectricity generator sounds good. It would create jobs and shift electricity production to a cleaner source, Anandasangaree said.
But with a federal election just weeks a way, it’s fair to wonder if Ottawa is signalling its commitment to the Iqaluit hydro project for the long haul, or is Anandasangaree’s $6 million a nice pre-election funding announcement?
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp., a subsidiary of Qikiqtaaluk Corp., wants to build a hydroelectricity generator on the Kuugaaluk River, about 60 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit. It would generate 15 megawatts of power, more than the city’s demand of about 10 megawatts, and it could be in operation by 2033.
It would replace the existing power plant, which burns diesel fuel to generate power.
At a public meeting in Iqaluit last week, Nunavut Nukkiksautiit representatives said the company would rely on government funding to pay most of the costs of building its hydro plant.
Qulliq Energy Corp., Nunavut’s publicly owned electricity provider, had considered the hydro project more than 10 years ago but put it on hold then because of a lack of funding.
The current plan raises some questions about why Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp. — and not QEC — is now leading the charge for the hydro project.
A half-billion dollars for a hydroelectricity generator is an enormous sum by Nunavut standards. By comparison, the Government of Nunavut’s annual operating budget is about $3 billion.
When the federal government announced funding to replace Iqaluit’s water infrastructure, it kicked in $214 million.
Hydroelectricity is one of the cleanest ways to generate electricity. As long as there’s enough water running downhill to turn turbines.
Building a hydro project in Iqaluit will shift the city’s power generation to a cleaner source. It will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, although realistically that reduction is a miniscule part of what Canada needs to do overall.
Hydro is relatively expensive to build. But once it’s running, generating electricity is cheap and maintenance is easy.
A shift to hydro makes sense for Iqaluit, so it makes sense for the federal government and the Nunavut partners to decide how it will be paid for before diving into hydro.
The dam-power will only work for so long.
Iqaluit today is now hitting almost 11 megawatt normally on a daily basis at peak power. 8 years from now you are going to need a whole lot more than 15 megawatts. Iqaluit is growing as fast as anything in these days and that water near the “dam” ain’t going to stay forever.
Government putting a so much money to a project that will never work in the arctic.
This is the north, Diesel will forever be our best friend whether you like it or not.
Innovation is the way to go ! Only we will advance! People like you are lethargic! Ready to give and let the status quo rule
Micro-nuclear
When the Federal government provides 6 million dollars for preliminary design work on a project that will ultimately cost 500 million, experience tells me that this 6 million is at high risk of being flushed down the proverbial toilet. I hope I’m wrong. I would love to dream the dream. But…..
“Hydroelectricity is one of the cleanest ways to generate electricity. As long as there’s enough water running downhill to turn turbines.”
That is great but where is all this water coming from?
The sky. It comes from the sky.
I don’t despise this idea, but I do think it’s dumb for the Premier to be promoting this (or the Kivalliq Hydro Fibre project) as somehow contributing to sovereignty or grand nation-building. It doesn’t do anything that isn’t already possible with existing infrastructure (i.e. keep the lights on in Iqaluit, plus internet for 5 Kivalliq communities in the case of the other project).
Grays Bay and Qikiqtarjuaq port are different.
Let the feds pay for it, they have not problem diverting $$$ to far off war somewhere in Europe.
Maybe figure out the funding before putting millions into designs😂
I think a good way to finance it would be through offering carbon offsets. People would eat it up. Indigenous. Arctic. Climate change mitigation. It ticks all the boxes.