Yukon Energy


Yukon Energy Corporation is a Canadian Crown corporation in Yukon that provides electrical power to Yukon. YEC is a subsidiary of Yukon Development Corporation that was established in 1987 to take over the Yukon assets of the Northern Canada Power Commission. The company's headquarters is in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Profile

YEC generates virtually all of Yukon's electricity supply, and distributes power to a third of the locations outside of Whitehorse. Their largest customer is the Yukon Electrical Company, a private business that has been operating since 1901, which itself has some smaller hydro operations, and serves primarily the Whitehorse area plus two thirds of the rural communities. YEC itself provides customer electricity directly in Dawson City, Mayo, Faro, Champagne and to some isolated individual customers.
YEC has developed a grid that connects hydro facilities in Whitehorse, Aishihik Lake - 30 MW, and the YECL facilities at Fish Lake near Whitehorse. The communities on the "Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro" grid include Whitehorse, Champagne, Johnson's Crossing, Faro, and the following communities where it is distributed by YECL: Haines Junction, Carcross, Tagish, Marsh Lake, Teslin, Carmacks and Ross River.
YEC operates two wind turbines on Haeckel Hill near Whitehorse connected to the Whitehorse-Aishihik-Faro grid. The first turbine is a Bonus Energy 150 kW MARK III installed in 1993. The second turbine, a Vestas 660 kW V47 LT II was later installed in 2000. These units need to be specially adapted to deal with icing and the northern environment.
A second grid, brought on-line in 2004, connects Dawson City via Stewart Crossing to Mayo, and beyond to the YECL-served communities of Elsa and Keno City, all drawing on the 5 MW hydro facility just north of Mayo that had mines at Elsa as primary customer until 1989.
The government of John Ostashek had promised to connect Mayo, Stewart Crossing and YECL-served Pelly Crossing to the main southern grid at Carmacks. During their mandate, and the subsequent N.D.P. and Liberal party mandates, this project was not developed, and Pelly Crossing remained on its own YECL diesel generator. The project was finally proceeded with during the later part of the 2000s, partly to meet power requirements for mines in the Minto area, and on June 17, 2011, the two grids began to operate together. The YECL generator at Pelly Crossing is now on standby to the grid.
Off the grid, Yukon Electrical Company Limited operates diesel generators to serve its customers in Watson Lake-Upper Liard, Swift River, Burwash Landing, Destruction Bay, Beaver Creek and Old Crow. The possibility of a grid connection to Atlin, British Columbia has probably been eliminated by a decision to construct a hydro project near Atlin, but talk in Atlin of an expansion could still raise that possibility.
Yukon has no connections to the continental power grid, therefore, YEC cannot sell to or buy from networks in Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta or the Northwest Territories. In addition to the extreme expense of such transmission lines, they would also be subject to disruption from solar flares.

Electrical Service by Community

NameService ProviderEnergy sourceNotes
Beaver CreekYECLdiesel plantnot on grid
Burwash LandingYECLdiesel plantnot on grid
Canyon Creek YECLYEC grid
CarcrossYECLYEC grid
CarmacksYECLYEC grid
ChampagneYECYEC grid
Dawson CityYECYEC griddiesel backup
Deep CreekYECLYEC grid
Destruction BayYECLdiesel plantnot on grid
Elsanot sure - possibly YECLYEC grid
FaroYECYEC grid
Haines JunctionYECLYEC grid
Jake's CornerYECYEC grid
Johnson's CrossingYECYEC grid
Keno CityYECLYEC grid
Lower Post, British ColumbiaYECLdiesel plant: Watson Lakenot on Yukon or B.C. grid
Marsh LakeYECLYEC grid
MayoYECYEC grid
Old CrowYECLdiesel plantnot on grid
Pelly CrossingYECLYEC griddiesel backup
Ross RiverYECLYEC grid
Stewart CrossingYECLYEC griddiesel backup
Swift RiverYECLdiesel plantnot on grid
TagishYECLYEC grid
TeslinYECLYEC griddiesel backup
Upper LiardYECLdiesel plant: Watson Lakenot on grid
Watson LakeYECLdiesel plant: Watson Lakenot on grid
WhitehorseYECLhydro facilities: YEC and YECLdiesel backup and auxiliary

Generating Facilities

NameLocationFuelUnits net capacity Capacity
Link
AishihikAishihik LakeHydroelectric
  • two units
  • one unit
37.5 MW
DawsonDawson CityDiesel generator
  • five fixed back-up units
  • one movable back-up unit
    • FaroFaroDiesel generator
  • three fixed back-up units
    • Haeckel HillWhitehorseWind Power
  • one Bonus 0.15 MW turbins
  • one Vestas V47-660 0.66 MW turbine
    		• 0.81MW
    MayoMayoDiesel generator
  • two fixed back-up units
    • Mayo HydroMayoHydroelectric
  • two 2.5MW units
    		• 5 MW
    Whitehorse RapidsWhitehorseHydroelectric
    • two units
    • one unit
    • one unit
    		40 MW
    Whitehorse RapidsWhitehorseDiesel generator
  • seven fixed back-up units
  • one movable back-up unit