Summary Community Consultations: 20-year Resource Plan draft August/September 2012

The following is a summary of the general themes raised during public consultation on our latest 20-year resource plan draft. Public meetings were held in seven communities (, Dawson, Faro, Watson Lake, Mayo, and Carmacks) during August and September, 2012.

Energy Conservation: -We need to wake people up about the importance of energy conservation. -Don’t wait for B.C. to give you permission to use their PowerSmart school curriculum: get out there and educate our kids. There are many groups here who could help – get in touch with them. -List suppliers of energy conservation products on the Yukon Energy website. -Whitehorse needs to cash in on creativity and slow down its increase in power usage. We’re 15 years behind the times in Yukon in terms of the things we should be doing to encourage energy conservation. -What’s going to be in your Electricity Conservation Plan? (Answer: hope to soon file a draft plan with the Yukon Utilities Board.) -Why are there no energy conservation programs in Yukon right now? Other places have had programs for years.(Answer: there are a number of programs currently delivered by the Energy Solutions Centre, but we can benefit from learning what has worked and not worked in other jurisdictions.) -You should consider load shaving, where the utility has the right to turn off hot water tanks for instance when they need power. Example of New Zealand, where every house has an on-off switch so no ghost power. There are so many great opportunities here. Let’s move quickly on this. -You should look at programs that shift peaks both in terms of time of year and time of day. -Like more information about the retrofit programs that exist in Yukon. -How much electricity can be saved through conservation and efficiencies? (Answer: 5 GWhs within 5 years) -You should educate architects and members of the public who deal with architects about energy efficient products, lighting, etc.(Answer: the plan is to provide education in key areas such as this). -Interested in training on how to operate new energy-efficient technology in buildings. -When you look at all the alternatives, conservation is really the best one and needs to be bumped up. -Charging more for electricity will get people to conserve. -Like to see more LEED standards. -Interested in time of use rates. -Like seasonal advertising/public information on energy conservation. -Approach YTG with initiatives for energy conservation. Encourage YTG to start incentives, change regulation, and start alternative energy campaigns.

LNG: -Concerns about fracking if liquefied natural gas is used as an electricity source. We must consider the environment for our children. -LNG is a no go. Yukon Energy has referred to it as transitional, but it won’t be transitional. It’ll just be another fossil fuel we’ll be stuck with. -If you go with LNG where would it be stored? (Answer: no decision yet, but we might look at replacing our diesels that need to be retired with NG fuelled engines). -If you look at ‘cradle to grave’, LNG emits more than diesel. By purchasing LNG from the south you’re just relying on other jurisdictions to absorb our GHG emission problem. -LNG is the worst option for the environment. -Concerned about risks of non-renewable fuel sources. -How does LNG fit with plans to serve the Casino mine? (Answer: We are working with owners of this property to assess the feasibility of using LNG for on-site mine power generation.) -What’s the long term plan for natural gas and how does Eagle Plains fit in? (Answer: Natural gas is viewed as a transition fuel source for electricity generation and may play a role in the longer term of supply backup power. We would look at Eagle Plains to provide a local source of natural gas.) -Won’t the cost of LNG increase? Yes, and we are considering this is our economic assessment of LNG. Diesel will also continue to increase in cost, so LNG will continue to be less expensive than using diesel -How often would a big truck come to Yukon if we switch to LNG? (Answer: In the near term there would be may be about one truck every three days.) -LNG has huge safety issues when transported with trucks. I'd encourage you to please have a deeper look into this issue before continuing with your planning. -Alaska will very possibly be expanding its LNG export capacity, so supply from Alaska may be possible for Yukon Energy within the 20 year planning horizon.

Wind: -Why is cost for wind listed as so high in your documents? I disagree with your assessment of the cost. (Answer: Because not all of the wind available can be used to displace diesel and because it cannot be relied on to generate power when the grid needs it, it must be supplemented with other generation. That increases the cost of having wind as an energy source). Can you make money with wind? (Answer: You can, but it’s all about scale and the ability for the grid to use every KWh generated by the wind turbine or farm. We are starting to look at the economic feasibility of small scale wind) -Wind is becoming more feasible. -Why can’t wind and solar make up the necessary power? Isn’t it worth the extra money? (Answer: Solar is still very expensive and its energy cannot be stored, so it suffers from the same problem of wind – it may not be available when it is needed.)

Gladstone: - Yukon Energy wasted a lot of money on Gladstone when it may not be a viable project. -to proceed with Gladstone as a project would mean you’d be changing lakes and rivers in the Kluane area forever, just to satisfy people in Whitehorse who are careless about their use of electricity. -there’s no appetite for Gladstone; why keep it in the 20-year resource plan? -you’ve included Gladstone in your plan but not smart meters – this makes me nervous. -If Gladstone goes ahead it would causing flooding in areas like Otter Falls or Isaac Creek.

Solar: -If net metering were in place, individuals could put solar in their homes and perhaps sell some back to the grid. -Interest in seeing Yukon Energy install solar water heaters in Burwash -Solar please! (Answer: We are putting small scale solar panels on the Fishladder. We’ll share the information with the public about how to go about installing solar in their homes.) -Solar is popular in Ontario – why not here? (Answer: the Ontario government is highly subsidizing the price for solar power. We don’t have that kind of fund here.

Biomass: -If Yukon Energy goes ahead with a biomass project, worried it will drive up the cost of heating with wood. -If you use beetle kill wood, wood cutters could lose their jobs.

Geothermal: -What happened with the plans for a geothermal hub at Whistlebend? (Answer: there was a plan to do district heating, but it was removed. Can’t tell you why; Yukon Energy was not involved.) -It seems geothermal is one of the only sustainable options. (Answer: geothermal can be a good source of power but is difficult and expensive to develop. We are in the early stages of exploring this option.)

Grid connections: -What would it cost to connect to B.C. (Answer: between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars) -What about a hydro connection through Skagway (Answer: have had initial discussions with Skagway and will continue talking to them about this possibility) -What would it cost to connect to Skagway? (Answer: We don’t know yet). -Will North Alaska Highway communities be connected to the grid soon? (Answer: no plans at this time to do that). -More consideration should be given to a grid extension into Alaska in light of the large Susitna-Watana hydro project. This project will add 600 MWs of additional capacity likely by 2023. I think it behooves Yukon Energy to consider a grid connection perhaps through Beaver Creek.

New hydro: -What are the new potential hydro projects in Yukon? (Answer: a number have been on the books for many years; few are actually viable projects at this point.) -What about Granite Canyon as a hydro project? (Answer: a big project and a long term one that would not be popular as there would be lots of flooding involved)

Diesel: -Like to see the Dawson diesel plant moved to a location outside of town.

Coal: -What about using coal? Isn’t it as clean as biomass? (Answer: We are not considering coal at this time.)

Nuclear: -What about using nuclear energy? (Answer: Interest in nuclear energy was noted at our three day energy charrette, but that was before the disaster in Japan. Commercial development of small scale nuclear suitable for serving the Yukon was felt to be at least 10 years away from the nuclear industry experts at the charrette.)

Storing electricity: -The problem with renewable energy is that you can’t store it. But have you thought about pump storage? (Answer: We have and are continuing to look at a number of energy storage options suitable for Yukon, including pumped storage, batteries and flywheels.) -In the Maritimes, they are using electrical thermal, and it is proving to be very successful.

Electrically-heated homes: -Can we say no to any more electrically-heated homes? (Answer: not our place to tell people what type of heat source to use)

Serving mines: -Mines should have to find their own source of electricity; Yukon Energy should concentrate on supplying electricity to rest of Yukon. -What about when the mines shut down – will others be left to pay the bill? (Answer: our agreements with mines address this, so other ratepayers are not left to deal with the risk.) -What would it cost to supply all the upcoming mines? (Answer: $50 million at least.)

Yukon Utilities Board: -Concern that the YUB has the power to dictate what projects Yukon Energy must do, in spite of public opposition. (Answer: the YUB wouldn’t just present a project to us and tell us we had to do it; we would need to go to the Board with a suggested project.)

LED streetlight pilot project: -What are the next steps for the pilot project in ? (Answer: continuing to test some new lighting options that didn’t exist when Yukon Energy did our initial testing) -Mayo and Faro are interested in testing LED streetlights. -What would using LED streetlights mean for electricity bills? (Answer: likely have to be a change in the rate).

Reliability: -We are concerned that we are now all one grid, and in Dawson City we are at the end of old equipment; worried about reliability.

General comments: -Good to see open communication from Yukon Energy -Yukon Energy should work with Dawson City on our 20-year community plan. -Yukon’s power sources need to be as individually driven and localized as possible. -What are your environmental ethics? (Answer: Lowering diesel emissions is important to us. We’d like to get off diesel, but the steps to get there are very expensive and we’ll have to do it incrementally.) -Put more effort into renewables. -Would prefer Whitehorse Trough to be drilled rather than destroy untouched areas. Southern Yukon already destroyed. -There needs to be consideration given to programs that support communities creating their own power. -Would Yukon Energy be open to partnering with municipalities to provide peak relief? (Answer: Yes.) -Concern about not having communication when power out; not able to get information from radio. -Looking at cost of electricity in other parts of Canada, Yukon’s not so bad. -My former home country is Germany. If a 80 million people industrialized country like Germany can afford to move on from nuclear energy to renewable resources, this should easily be possible for 30 something thousand residents up here! -I would like to encourage you to come up with a healthy compromise: conservation, renewable, biomass, and a political discussion about industrial development. -I strongly recommend focusing solely on renewable energy sources as wind, solar and water as well as allowing the private sector to feed renewable energy into the grid.