The Yukon government has put the possibility of tying into B.C.’s electrical grid to bed.

Instead, it will turn its attention to options closer at home in the territory, it said Wednesday.

Energy, Mines and Resources Minister Ranj Pillai told the legislature the choice is off the table. He spoke after the Yukon Party’s Wade Istchenko asked for an update on the project around energy supply and demand.

“At this particular time in our discussions with the B.C. government, there is not an interest for large investment,” Pillai said.

The territory does not tie into the bigger North American grid, so all energy used must be generated within the Yukon.

The previous Yukon Party government had considered tying into the larger grid for years. Pillai explained last summer that option may have been met with limited success.

That’s because there were no takers and few partners (like BC Hydro) willing to put skin in the game – a game which the Yukon Party government projected could cost $1.7 billion.

As Istchenko pointed out Wednesday, that could be a costly endeavour, as it surpasses the Yukon’s entire budget, which sits at $1.5 billion for the 2019-20 year, by $200 million.

As detailed in the Star last July, the Canadian Electricity Association recommended the federal government at least look into connecting provinces and territories with transmission lines – so linking northern areas to the bigger North American grid.

That tie-in could have seen the export of energy from the North to southern neighbours, in a move that Pillai likened at one point to a nation-building exercise.

He added Wednesday the business community also suggested that YG look at domestic options instead, “and we think that’s some good advice and direction.”

Yukon Energy had studied the feasibility of tying into the B.C. grid in early 2018, retaining Midgaard Consulting for $70,000, with a number of other works showing the territory needs to have greater generating capacity, especially during the winter months.

Ditching plans for the B.C. option, the government has now instead opted to apply for a large battery through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

“I believe that our request is for about $11 million, so instead of having two competing proposals, we thought that storage — which can help us in complementing infrastructure that comes on line from our independent power production — was the best route, and that’s what Yukoners wanted,” Pillai told MLAs.

The minister expected further discussions to take place when the Yukon Development and Yukon Energy corporation appear in the House.

Pillai’s remarks came just over two months after YG unveiled its Independent Power Production policy in late January.

Those rules are to help guide the purchase of electricity from independent power producers (that is, non-utility entities like homeowners) who generate power that could be used to supply electricity back into the grid.

“We still think that some of that work that we have done could be helpful to look at what we can do domestically,” Pillai said, “but at this time, we continue to look at other renewable energy sources.”

Those may include the Haeckel Hill wind project, which, as the Star reported in February, is not expecting to stand up any of its four wind turbines by year’s end.