Cost considerations could &#39c;onstrain; ambitious program to cut oil consumption

Slashing energy costs, cutting pollution, growing green businesses and weaning Nunavut off foreign oil are all part of an ambitious energy strategy tabled by the territorial government this past week.

Ed Picco, the energy minister, presented Ikummatiit, Nunavut's new energy strategy, in the legislative assembly Oct. 30.

Now it's a matter of getting the machinery of government rolling to implement the 37-point plan.

"We have a working group working on the objectives and timelining them," Picco said outside the legislature Nov. 2.

Of the dozens of recommendations, some, like the Save 10 program that offers energy saving tips to Government of Nunavut workers, are already in place. Others, like the long-proposed hydroelectric dam for the South Baffin region, require millions of dollars in funding that's far from assured.

But Picco said once a site for the dam is selected, he's confident the GN and Qulliq Energy Corp. will be able to line up funding from either the federal government or a private investor. Neither the GN nor QEC can currently borrow the money needed for the multi-million dollar project.

Asked if there's an appetite among the private sector to get involved in such a plan, Picco said: "I think there would be if there's a return on their investment."

But both the government and the utility want that project to go ahead because it would cut out most of the 12 million litres of diesel fuel the Iqaluit power plant burns each year.

The government projects the territory will go through 100 million more litres of petroleum products by the year 2020. Nunavummiut burned through 180 million litres of oil and gas last year.

The strategy also gives a cautious green light to uranium mining in the territory, provided "it is environmentally sound and provides benefits to Nunavummiut."

That's similar to a policy released last month by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. That could bode well for the development of the dozen or so uranium deposits located in the western Kivalliq.

The GN also wants to spend $9 million retrofitting government buildings in Iqaluit, help fund private-sector retrofits to reduce energy consumption, ban incandescent lightbulbs and expand Qulliq Energy's residual heat programs, which use heat generated by power plants to warm public buildings.

As part of the strategy the government will calculate all the money it spends on energy supplies and subsidies in an "affordable energy fund" which MLAs will get to vote on. That will make energy spending more transparent, Picco said.

The GN already spends 20 per cent of its budget – $200 million – on energy-related expenses, Picco said. He hopes the fund will help Nunavummiut understand how much gas prices are subsidized.

"The general lack of public knowledge of the high level of subsidization is one reason the Government is urged to increase subsidies when energy prices rise," states the tabled version of Ikummatiit.