The four wind turbine array on Haeckel Hill overlooking Whitehorse has entered commercial power production and is now sending power to the Yukon grid, according to the company that operates it.
The turbines are operated by Eagle Hill Energy Limited Partnership (EHELP) which is wholly owned by Kwanlin Dün First Nation’s development corporation Chu Níikwän LP. As such, the project is 100-per-cent Indigenous owned. The project has been named for the traditional name for Haeckel Hill: Thay T’äw which means “Golden Eagle Nest” in Southern Tutchone.
EHELP has issued periodic updates to the public, including information about the construction of the turbines last summer and a notice that final testing was being undertaken last December. The total cost of the project was $29.8 million with almost all of it coming from a variety of federal government programs.
Project operators claim the project is cabable of four megawatts of power generation and will have an estimated service life of 25 years. The estimates provided by the company state that over the project’s lifetime it will produce the equivalent power of about 40 million litres of diesel. A notice issued April 2 states that the turbines have been operational and generating power for the grid since March 8.
The focus of the wind-energy project is to provide additional energy during the windy and cold months when power demand is highest and the Whitehorse grid is most dependent on fossil fuels.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com