The NDP wants to see the results of research into the potential for wind and geothermal energy in the territory but Yukon Energy is refusing to share the material, says the parties energy critic.

Steve Cardiff filed an access to information request recently but has yet to hear back.

Yukon Energy president David Morrison has already said the publicly-owned corporation will not release the research results.

Morrison is claiming the research is private, and divulging it could potentially benefit competing interests in the energy field, Cardiff said.

The NDP critic, however, argues that since the studies were funded by public money, the results should be available to taxpayers.

Being denied access to pertinent information robs Yukoners of their ability to have informed discussions about where the territory should be heading with future energy production, Cardiff said.

"These studies were funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money, and so should be shared with the public,” the NDP critic said in a press release issued late last week.

"I think it is anti-democratic for him to claim they are ‘proprietary', especially when it is the Yukon people who are the shareholders and stakeholders in the YEC.”

The press release goes on to say: "The federal and territorial governments pay for geological surveys in the territory to encourage investments by private mining companies. And it should be no different when it comes to the development of our energy resources, especially when Morrison is on record as saying the YEC has neither the means nor the interest in seriously considering alternatives to hydroelectricity.”

In an interview Monday, Morrison said the NDP press release is downright incorrect when it states he's on record as saying Yukon Energy does not have the means nor the interest to pursue alternative energy sources.

Morrison said Yukon Energy is not only interested in exploring alternative energy sources, but is actively doing so.

Yukon Energy conducts studies into alternate energy on behalf of ratepayers, he said.

Morrison said when the appropriate time comes, the information will be made public.

Later this month, for instance, Yukon Energy will brief the chief and council of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations on the geothermal potential of the Jarvis Creek site on their settlement land, he pointed out.

Morrison said he's not about to go around talking about the project until after that briefing.

If Yukon Energy decides to move forward with a geothermal project – and it's looking like the opportunity is there – all of its information will be available as part of its application to the Yukon Utilities Board, he said.

Until then, Morrison explained, the information on the potential for specific sites belongs to the ratepayers, and not to private companies that have paid nothing for it but could use it to their advantage.

He also suggested, for example, that revealing the locations of the specific geothermal sites could see those sites suddenly scooped up by third parties.

Cardiff, on the other hand, said Yukon Energy keeps coming up with excuses about why wind power is not feasible here but it seems to be feasible everywhere else, even in northern climates.

There is some indication, he pointed out, that a wind farm on Mount Sumanik, located just west of the existing two Haeckel Hill wind turbines, would have been much cheaper than the Mayo B expansion.

Cardiff said he recognizes Mayo B was the only project far enough along in planning to capture the time-sensitive $71-million federal contribution to a green power project in the territory.

Perhaps, he hinted, there should have been more on the shelf ready to go.

"We are saying there's been hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on these studies and we want to see the justification for why these projects are not going ahead.”

Morrison said the research into geothermal energy is looking very promising but a little more work is needed to be sure.

Wind generation, however, is a tough one, he explained.

Morrison acknowledges the Mount Sumanik research indicates there might have been a chance to build twice as much generating capacity as the Mayo B project for less money.

But wind generators can only be counted on to produce power 30 per cent of the time, he pointed out.

Morrison said if wind turbines become part of the core generating system, there also needs to be some sort of a backup like diesel or hydro built in so they can be brought on-line when the wind isn't blowing.

Conversely, the Mayo B expansion will supply power virtually around the clock, he said.

Yukon Energy spent $11,000 last year to hire a firm to review the wind research into Mount Sumanik in the 1990s at a cost of over $100,000, Yukon Energy spokeswoman Janet Patterson said this morning.

She said the corporation has spent $800,000 to date on geothermal research.

Geothermal generation involves the use of underground hot water and heat to create steam to drive turbines, and is becoming commonplace around the world as a means of producing electricity.