The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has announced that they will be conducting an overhaul of the Taltson Hydroelectric Facility in April.
This project will require the services this plant provides to be taken off line for approximately six-months. This will affect customers in Hay River, K’atlodeeche First Nation, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution and Enterprise. In the meantime, these customers will receive their power from diesel generators while the work is done. Interruptible electric heat customers in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution will rely on their backup heating systems while Taltson Hydro is offline.
The Talton Hydroelectric Facilty was first built in 1965 as a way to provide electricity to Pine Point Mine. The facility produces up to 18-megawatts of energy to communities across the South Slave Region. These repairs and overhauls are required because many of the internal machines have reached their end-of-life period and must be replaced before anything breaks down.
Refurbishment of the Taltson unit will help ensure that electricity customers have access to renewable and reliable hydro power for the next 50 years.
While diesel generation is more expensive, customers will not be paying extra on their electricity bill while these repairs are being made. The long-term impact of the overhaul on rates will not be known until NTPC submits its next General Rate Application to the NWT Public Utilities Board.
