NWT State of the Environment Report

4. Pressures - Energy Use

Le rapport sur l’état de l’environnement 2022 est un document technique destiné à un usage interne. Il n’est disponible qu’en anglais.

Introduction 

Energy use in the NWT, and elsewhere, is a driving force affecting our environment in several ways, including increasing pressures, such as air pollution, human activities, and landscape change. The combustion of fossil fuels (e.g. gasoline, diesel, heating oil) for transportation or to heat buildings also generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which in turn contribute to climate change. 

Downtown Yellowknife. Photo credit: GNWT

In 2018, the GNWT released the 2030 Energy Strategy to set out the NWT’s long-term approach to supporting secure, affordable, and sustainable energy, and making progress towards the NWT’s 2030 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels. The Strategy includes support for energy efficiency and conservation programs, local renewable energy solutions, and large-scale energy projects. As a result, the NWT currently leads Canada in the installation of commercial-sized wood pellet boilers and the development of renewable energy sources is on the rise. The following indicators track energy use and GHG emission levels in the NWT. 

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is generated from natural resources that are naturally replenished within a human lifetime. Renewable energy sources include water (e.g. hydroelectricity), biomass (e.g. cordwood, wood pellets), wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

Non-renewable energy

Non-renewable energy is generated from resources of which there is a finite supply. Non-renewable energy sources include fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, and nuclear energy fuel such as uranium ore. While fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases when combusted, nuclear energy is emissions-free at the point of use, though this source of energy poses other challenges such as the long-term management of nuclear waste.

Greenhouse gases

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are gases in the atmosphere that trap energy from the sun. Naturally occurring GHGs include water vapour, ozone, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Without them, the Earth's temperature would be extremely cold. While these naturally occurring gases make life possible, a critical concern today is the enhanced effect on the climate system of increased levels of GHGs in the atmosphere, due to human activities. Climate change is one of the most important issues of our time, with more acute effects in the North as the NWT is warming between two to four times the global rate.

Gigajoules

A gigajoule (GJ) is a measure of energy use. For example, 1 GJ is equivalent to the amount of energy available from 278 kWh of electricity or in 26 litres of heating oil.

 

4.1 Trends in Total Energy Use in the NWT

This indicator measures the total quantity of energy used in the Northwest Territories (NWT). It tracks the use of different forms of energy such as electricity, refined petroleum products (e.g., diesel, gasoline, heating oil), natural gas, and biomass (e.g., wood pellets).

This indicator was prepared by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), Department of Environment and Climate Change, using information obtained from Statistics Canada, NWT utilities, as well as the Department of Infrastructure’s Energy Division - GNWT.

The industry sector uses the most energy in the NWT to work equipment and supply power to run remote industrial sites. Photo credit: GNWT.

NWT Focus

As a remote territory with a cold climate, the NWT uses proportionally more energy than southern jurisdictions to heat and run homes and businesses, to transport people and goods, and to power industry. The NWT’s energy supply is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels, such as diesel, gasoline and heating oil. Electricity is primarily supplied by hydro and diesel generators, with renewable energy (such as wind and solar) only supplying a fraction of the NWT’s overall power generation.

 

Current View: NWT Energy Supply and Demand

The diagram pictured below is called a Sankey diagram. Sankey diagrams are used to show the energy flow from its primary sources through its conversion to fuels and electricity, and finally to how fuel and electricity are used to deliver energy services (e.g. provide heat and light in buildings, transport people and goods). This diagram shows the NWT’s energy sources and uses in 2019.

The key to interpreting a Sankey diagram is to remember that the width of each line shows the quantity of energy. Also, the left side of this diagram highlights the difference between local and imported energy in the NWT; the right side of this diagram (under System Efficiency) shows where energy is most efficiently used (buildings and industry) and where it is lost (power generation and transportation).

 

Figure 1. Energy flows in the NWT in 2019 (in terajoules)

Source: Statistics Canada, GNWT, NTPC, NUL

 

Notes: Power generation in the industrial sector is estimated using data from Statistics Canada. Energy loss from the end use is estimated using average conversion efficiency of technologies for a given sector in North America. 1 terajoule (TJ) equals 1,000 gigajoules (GJ).

In 2019, refined petroleum products were the primary source of energy in the NWT, representing 86 per cent of overall territorial energy supply. Industry accounts for most of the energy used in the NWT, especially when considering their transportation requirements. Refined petroleum products are the industry’s primary source of energy to operate their facilities. Buildings primarily use a mix of electricity and petroleum products (e.g., heating oil and propane), with biomass an emerging alternative for heating. Transportation relies on gasoline for light-duty vehicles and diesel for heavy-duty vehicles.

Historically, after a spike in 2015, NWT energy use for each sector (Figure 2) has shown declining trend. Industry remains the largest user of energy in the territory, representing 7,092 TJ or 38% of the NWT’s final energy demand. Buildings and transport, respectively, account for 6,004 TJ and 5,367 TJ, or 33% and 29% of final energy demand.

 

Figure 2. Total energy use by sector between 2012 and 2019 (in terajoules)

Source: Statistics Canada, GNWT, NTPC, Northland Utilities
Note: Energy use includes primary energy (e.g., refined petroleum products, hydroelectricity) and secondary energy (e.g., electricity produced from diesel generators). 1 terajoule (TJ) equals 1,000 gigajoules (GJ).

Current View: 2030 Energy Strategy

In 2018, the GNWT released the 2030 Energy Strategy (Ref. 1) to set out the NWT’s long-term approach to supporting secure, affordable, and sustainable energy, and making progress towards the territorial goal of reducing emissions by 30% by 2030 below 2005 levels. The 2030 Energy Strategy is structured around six strategic objectives:

  1. Work together to find solutions: community engagement, participation and empowerment;
  2. Reduce GHG emissions from electricity generation in diesel powered communities by an average of 25%;
  3. Reduce GHG emissions from transportation by 10% per capita;
  4. Increase the share of renewable energy used for space-heating to 40%;
  5. Increase residential, commercial and government building energy efficiency by 15%; and
  6. A longer-term vision: develop the NWT’s energy potential, address industry emissions, and do our part to meet national climate change objectives.

The Energy Action Plan, a document released by the GNWT every three years, encompasses multi-year government investments in actions and initiatives designed to achieve the strategic objectives under the Strategy. Between 2018 and 2021, the GNWT spent about 85 million dollars to develop and implement energy solutions that will allow the NWT to reduce GHG emissions by at least 46 kilotonnes (kt) of CO2e by 2025.

Projects and initiatives advanced under the Energy Strategy reduce NWT dependence on imported fossil fuels, help stabilize energy costs, address community and industry needs, tie the NWT grid to the continent and greatly reduce GHG emissions in all sectors of the economy (e.g. buildings, electricity, industry, transportation). This includes support for the Arctic Energy Alliance’s energy efficiency and conservation programs, local renewable energy solutions (e.g. the Inuvik Wind project), large-scale energy projects (e.g. construction of transmission lines to bring hydropower to diesel-powered communities and Taltson Hydro Expansion), as well as electrification of end uses such as transportation (e.g. rebates for electric vehicles).

Progress update on current energy projects and initiatives can be found in GNWT’s annual Energy Initiatives Report (Ref. 2).

In 2019, the GNWT has also started implementing the NWT Carbon Tax to encourage carbon conservation and substitution to reduce GHG emissions while minimizing the effect on the local cost of living or on creating additional barriers to economic development. The GNWT has made investments in alternative energy options for territorial residents and businesses a priority and expects to continue making alternative energy investments while working closely with the federal and other NWT governments, and residents to provide reliable, affordable alternatives to carbon-intensive fuels for communities and businesses.

Looking forward

The GNWT’s Department of Infrastructure will release the Energy Action Plan for 2022-2025 period in 2022. The new Energy Action Plan will include the five-year review of the Energy Strategy, to be initiated in 2023, to assess progress towards strategic objectives and revisit targets if needed.

The GNWT is also developing a longer-term vision for energy in the NWT under the Energy Strategy’s sixth Strategic Objective. This includes advancing the Taltson hydroelectricity expansion project, which aims to connect the 10 communities around Great Slave Lake to one hydro grid to help stabilize the cost of energy, reduce reliance on diesel electricity and provide access to clean energy for industry north and of power south of Great Slave Lake. Expansion of the Taltson hydroelectricity site is key to unlocking the territory’s renewable resource potential and associated environmental and economic benefits. The energy corridor would also provide important clean growth economic diversification of the NWT and opportunities for Indigenous government partnership, all of which support the GNWT’s goals and commitments under the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The long term vision for the project includes a transmission line connection to the North American Grid.

The GNWT’s Department of Infrastructure has initiated modelling work to better understand the combined effects of carbon tax, federal policy, and GNWT actions on the NWT’s energy mix, GHG reductions and economy by 2030. The model will also be used to explore the technical and economic feasibility of net-zero emissions pathways for the NWT.

In 2021, Canada announced the updated federal carbon pricing benchmarks for April 1, 2023 to 2030, including an annual increase in the price of $15/tonne starting April 1, 2023 to $170 per tonne of CO2e in 2030 and guidelines to ensure that returning the carbon price revenues do not negate the price signal. While the GNWT can continue to impose the NWT carbon tax it must commit to eliminating the at-source rebates. The more stringent carbon pricing requirements after 2023 will increase the incentive to lower fossil fuel consumption but is not expected to significantly reduce NWT GHG emissions over the short to medium term because further reductions will be increasingly difficult without considerable technological improvements. There are limited affordable technologies available to reduce NWT carbon-based fuel consumption and those that are available are untested in a cold climate with a small population.

Looking around

Energy use per person in the NWT is nearly double the Canadian average with fossil fuels providing most of the energy consumed in the NWT. This high consumption is due to several factors, such as remoteness and long, cold winters.

Find out more

For more information on energy use in the NWT, please visit Infrastructure's Energy division website at: http://nwtenergy.ca.

 

References

Ref. 1.  2030 Energy Strategy: A Path to More Affordable, Secure and Sustainable Energy in the NWT, 2018, GNWT, https://www.inf.gov.nt.ca/sites/inf/files/resources/gnwt_inf_7272_energy_strategy_web-eng.pdf.

Ref. 2 2020-21 Energy Initiatives Report, 2021, GNWT, https://www.inf.gov.nt.ca/sites/inf/files/resources/3894_-_gnwt_enr_-_energy_initiatives_report_-_2021_-_final_-web.pdf

 

4.2 Trends in Electrical Generation

This indicator tracks trends in electricity generation in the Northwest Territories (NWT).

NWT electricity supply primarily comes from three sources: hydro, diesel, and natural gas. Solar and wind energy, while increasing in use, currently only contribute marginally to the NWT’s overall electricity supply.

This indicator was prepared by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), Department of Environment and Climate Change, using information obtained from NWT utilities and the Department of Infrastructure’s Energy Division - GNWT.

Image: Snare Hydro System, NWT Credit: GNWT

NWT Focus

Unlike most of Canada, the NWT is not connected to the North American electrical grid. This means each community must have its own sources of electricity generation and backup. While communities are provided electricity by utilities, industrial communities (e.g., mines) generate their own electricity on-site.

Most of the electricity generated for NWT non-industrial communities comes from hydroelectric facilities, where the energy of flowing rivers is transformed into electricity. Communities not connected to one of NWT’s two hydroelectric grids use diesel generators or natural gas to produce electricity. Solar electricity generation has also been deployed in most NWT communities, whether at the residential or community scale, although it only represents a fraction of overall power generation.

Remote mines primarily use diesel generators to produce their electricity. One mine, Diavik Diamond Mine, has installed four wind turbines to reduce its reliance on diesel generation.

In 2020, most of the electricity generated for NWT communities comes from hydro-electric facilities (70%). Electricity production also comes from diesel generators (25%), natural gas (5%) or a combination of these. Solar electricity generation only accounts for about 0.6% of the NWT’s total power supply (Figure 1).

 

Figure 1. Utility power generation by source between 2012 and 2020

Source: Northwest Territories Power Corporation, Northland Utilities, GNWT
Note: Power generation from industry on remote sites is excluded from this chart.

 

Looking forward

One of the six strategic objectives of GNWT’s Energy Strategy (Ref. 1) is to reduce the GHG emissions from electricity generation in diesel powered communities by 25% by 2030. The GNWT is advancing a broad suite of energy solutions such as wind, solar, mini hydro, liquefied natural gas, and transmission lines to decrease reliance on diesel generation in these communities and move towards the 2030 target. For example, the Inuvik Wind Project will see a 3.5-megawatt wind turbine and a small battery storage system to reduce GHG emissions and support a secure grid in one of the NWT’s most Northern communities – a project slated to be operational in 2023. The GNWT is also developing a 170 km transmission line to bring clean hydropower from the Taltson system to Fort Providence, Kakisa, and Dory Point, with commissioning planned for 2024.

Progress update on the many projects and initiatives the GNWT and its partners are advancing in the electricity sector can be found in GNWT’s annual Energy Initiatives Report (Ref. 2).

 

Find out more

For more information on energy use in the NWT, please visit Infrastructure's Energy Division website at: http://nwtenergy.ca.

 

References

Ref. 1.  2030 Energy Strategy: A Path to More Affordable, Secure and Sustainable Energy in the NWT, 2018, GNWT, https://www.inf.gov.nt.ca/sites/inf/files/resources/gnwt_inf_7272_energy_strategy_web-eng.pdf.

Ref. 2 2020-21 Energy Initiatives Report, 2021, GNWT, https://www.inf.gov.nt.ca/sites/inf/files/resources/3894_-_gnwt_enr_-_energy_initiatives_report_-_2021_-_final_-web.pdf