Electricity heats 4,000-plus homes across Yukon: data
The number of Yukon homes using electric heating last year was pegged at 4,038, according to numbers released earlier this year by the territory’s Bureau of Statistics.
The number of Yukon homes using electric heating last year was pegged at 4,038, according to numbers released earlier this year by the territory’s Bureau of Statistics.
The 2021 number represented an increase of 7.9 per cent or 261 customers compared to 2020, says the report from the bureau.
It says the energy sector contributed $66.1 million to the Yukon’s real domestic product last year, representing an increase of $2.4 million or 3.8 per cent compared to 2020.
The number of solar electric systems operating in the territory grew substantially in the last nine years, from one in 2013 to 517 in 2021.
The increase in solar electric systems also resulted in a substantial growth in the amount of exported generation to the grid after personal use.
In 2014, for instance, exported generation to the grid was six megawatt-hours compared to 2,251 MWh last year.
Of the 35 Yukon farms that reported using renewable energy producing systems in 2021, the report notes, 33 were using solar panels and two were using wind turbines.
The average monthly percentage of total electricity generation from fossil fuels – diesel and natural gas – during the months of November, December, January and February grew from 9.8 per cent in 2017 to 22.2 per cent in 2021.
Of the Yukon’s total generation capacity of 153.1 MW last year, hydro plants had a capacity of 93.5 MW or 61.1 per cent.
Diesel plants had an installed capacity of 46.4 MW or 30.3 per cent of the total followed by an LNG installed capacity of 13.2 MW or 8.6 per cent.
Of the total installed generating capacity last year, Yukon Energy had an installed capacity of 132.3 MW or 86.4 per cent of the total while ATCO Electric Yukon had a generating capacity of 20.8 MW, or 13.6 per cent of the total.
The report notes that in 2020, generation by fossil fuels accounted for 17.2 per cent of the total, the sixth-lowest in the country.
Between 2011 and 2020, the percentage of generation by fossil fuels has fluctuated from a low of 5.2 per cent in 2013 and 2014 to a high of 19.6 per cent in 2019.
The percentage of total electricity generated from LNG rose from 0.3 per cent in 2016 to nine per cent in 2020 while the percentage generated by diesel grew from 5.3 per cent in 2016 to 8.2 per cent in 2020.
Comments (15)
Up 3 Down 1
Dave on Nov 10, 2022 at 1:48 pm
Doug martens for premier!
Up 29 Down 6
Douglas Martens on Nov 7, 2022 at 11:29 am
We all, well most of us, chose to live north of the 60th, where temperatures are known to drop, well, north of -60 F.
The next time that occurs, do you really want to be fully dependent on a whirring space heater and the electricity arriving unfailingly?
Since all the bridge construction equipment and personnel arrived here in Teslin, we have been experiencing frequent power outages, and if it were not for the large and aged diesel generator providing a backup source of juice, these outages would be much longer lasting. And let's not forget, someone has to go out there at the risk of losing their life in whatever brutal temps, to restore that life-giving power.
Wood stoves are life savers, and while the POWERS among us may want to "move the Yukon to electricity for heat", it is up to individuals like yourself, to decide just how much faith you have in that power making it to your home.
Yet Another thing to consider is the inherent inefficiency in the power system. Trucking LNG from alberta, (using diesel trucks) to whitehorse, then using that gas to run generators and electrifying the grid, sending power to the communities, where it has to be stepped down so your house doesn't explode and then forcing too much power through a copper coil so that it generates heat?
And this is supposed to be the glorious, clean and renewable system to supplant the simplicity and nearby availability of firewood going straight into the stove? Admittedly, I am not an engineer, but this seems like a crazy roundabout way of accomplishing what i can do with a few sticks from my yard and a single match.
Up 14 Down 2
Groucho d'North on Nov 6, 2022 at 2:53 pm
I went in search of the noted report from Stats but alas, could not find it on the government's arcane website. I was looking to find out if these noted 4000 homes are exclusively heated by electricity or if they are a back up system. My home has electric base board heaters as an emergency backup in case the state of the art, high efficiency oil furnance quits. I wonder how many other homes are configured similar to mine and if these homes have been captured in the data?
Up 25 Down 3
Hmmmm on Nov 5, 2022 at 5:45 pm
We have what, 60MW May hydro in the winter, so the rest of the load is thermal generation, and at best the efficiency is maybe 85%?
Maybe instead of pushing new homes to go into electricity for heat, until such time as we have all renewable, get new homes on high efficiency gas (95%+) efficiency.
Up 10 Down 15
BnR on Nov 5, 2022 at 5:42 pm
North of
The whole solar thing got started under the Yukon Party.
Up 28 Down 4
Vlad on Nov 5, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Can the Star get some details from ATCO and explain all the charges above and beyond the energy charge? Would not want a house heated with electric...price of fuel going up yet government endorsing more electrification...absurd.
Up 28 Down 6
Charlie's Aunt on Nov 5, 2022 at 2:30 pm
Josey, you nailed it. Wood is only source of heat that is reliable if power is off for a long time. Oil, propane or electric furnaces need power, and pellet stove runs for a short time, and baseboard heaters quit cold turkey. Unless a home has an inline generator there is always the option of opening the patio door at -40 C to snake a cord through so you can run a space heater!
Perhaps YT can offer grants to purchase parkas, snow pants and nose warmers that are good for -40 C! If YT is pushing electric heat they have to ensure the source is reliable 24/7 all year and that is almost impossible with unexpected natural events occurring.
Up 26 Down 5
John on Nov 5, 2022 at 12:50 pm
One thing about statistics - they are only as good as the information asked and collected. In this particular case this one is about as useful as teats on a bull. Why? Well if the question is asked do you heat with electricity - full stop - then it maybe true you do "only heat with electric"; but you may also have 2 or more sources of heat. That little tidbit appears not to be factored in. For example any half-wit knows that in the north you are one stupid fool if you don't have a back up heat source. In our home we have three (we live out of town) - oil, wood and electric, used in that order, depending on the temperature. Electric is the last use and only when the temperature bottoms out.
My suspicion is that of the 4000 homes I will lay odds that is not there only source of heat - if it is...well stupid is what stupid is - worse you can't fix stupid. I would further believe that virtually all condo dwellers have only electric. Best hope we don't have a long power outage in the dead of winter. There will be a lot of whining and shivering.
Up 35 Down 3
Groucho d'North on Nov 5, 2022 at 10:19 am
I am curious what the capital costs for all this 'alternate energy' apparatus was for the consumers and what the general formula is for the capital payback.
Making the juice is just one part - what it costs to produce is just as critical.
Up 37 Down 13
Josey Wales on Nov 5, 2022 at 8:32 am
Say what ya want of wood...
If these 4000 homes do not have wood stoves?
They put themselves and their family at risk depending on electrons to flow...here...consistently during the dark cold time.
Oh yeah, forgot about the influx of China made solar panels and our new windmills laced with tons of copper...from a mine...maybe a blood mine?
Never mind we are saved, thank you greenies.
Up 36 Down 15
Matthew on Nov 4, 2022 at 5:36 pm
False statement really.. electric homes, power by diesel.. LOL they want ALL homes on electric heat, that way they can control you easier.. imagine, power out for days... again, all by design as it's part of Agenda 2030..
Up 35 Down 12
bonanzajoe on Nov 4, 2022 at 5:33 pm
@Mark on Nov 4. The greenies are adamant about solar and wind turbines. Nothing less or more will satisfy them. Idiot are idiots. You can't change a turnip into a potato.
Up 44 Down 8
Of course we do on Nov 4, 2022 at 5:05 pm
With the price of wood at $450 a cord (that still needs to be bucked and split) we realized it was cheaper and easier to just turn out baseboards on this winter. Many neighbours who have electric baseboard are planning to do the same.
Up 63 Down 7
Mark on Nov 4, 2022 at 5:04 pm
Is it time to consider nuclear energy? We need a solution that will address the need for power generation because demand is only going to increase. Relying on incremental supply improvements (e.g., Atlin Hydro) seems short-sited, and will not be the total solution x years from now. Why not “go big” and bypass all the cost over runs and delays we have seen already? Sure, there will likely be delays (etc.) from a large infrastructure project, but at least the project will deliver what the market needs (i.e., ample power generation).
I wonder if nuclear generated power appeals to those concerned with burning fossil fuels.
Up 54 Down 11
North_of_60 on Nov 4, 2022 at 4:53 pm
The number of Yukon homes using electric heating last year was pegged at 4,038, ...an increase of 7.9 per cent or 261 customers compared to 2020...
The number of solar electric systems operating in the territory grew substantially in the last nine years ...to 517 in 2021. The increase... also resulted in a substantial growth in the amount of exported generation to the grid... 2,251 MWh last year.
Almost none of that solar electricity was available when houses needed heat, and nearly all of it had to be purchased when there was more than enough water at the dams. That extra cost to customers is reflected in the 'Yukon Energy Revenue Shortfall Rider" on our electric bills.
The poor folk who can't afford solar panels subsidize the rich folk who can. Another example of how LIBgov socialism makes our lives more expensive.