Powering the North

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RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT BY NORTHERNERS, FOR NORTHERNERS

[mk_dropcaps style=”simple-style”]T[/mk_dropcaps]HE TOWN OF INUVIK sits at the end of the Dempster Highway, nestled in the delta where the Mackenzie River flows into the Beaufort Sea. Created wholesale by the Canadian government in the 1950s, today it is a community of 3,500 and an important regional centre for health care, education and governance, including Aboriginal governments established under the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit land claims.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Inuvik’s history has also been shaped by the bust and boom cycles of oil and gas exploration in the Beaufort Delta, where the prospect of a pipeline linking its rich resources to the south down the Mackenzie Valley has been a long-standing vision. To date, that vision has proven to be a chimera. But efforts to make it a reality have left their legacies. One of them is the Ikhil project, a small piece of natural gas infrastructure that has found new life as its original purpose wound down.

Ikhil is the name of a small natural gas reservoir located about 50 kilometres from Inuvik. In the late 1990s — as the last major boom in oil and gas exploration descended on the Beaufort Delta — it was developed by a partnership between AltaGas Services
 Inc., Enbridge Inc. and
the Inuvialuit-owned 
Inuvialuit Petroleum
 Corp. The goal: to
supply natural gas to
Inuvik for heating and power generation, displacing considerable costs associated with imported diesel and creating benefits for the local economy.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][mk_image src=”https://energy-exchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/InuvikLNGPlant2.jpg” image_width=”800″ image_height=”600″ crop=”true” lightbox=”false” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” title=”Inuvik, N.W.T., once used a small local natural gas deposit for heat and power. Now it’s transformed its power plant to a test project on using LNG, delivered via truck from Vancouver, to power northern communities. ” desc=”BRYAN AND CHERRY ALEXANDER / ALL CANADA PHOTOS;” caption_location=”outside-image” align=”left” margin_bottom=”10″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_blockquote style=”line-style” font_family=”none” text_size=”22″ align=”left”]The Ikhil gas project left a legacy. Today, Inuvik is home to a test project on the viability of LNG in northern communities.[/mk_blockquote][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][mk_image src=”https://energy-exchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NWT0003-17.jpg” image_width=”800″ image_height=”600″ crop=”true” lightbox=”false” frame_style=”simple” target=”_self” desc=”BRYAN AND CHERRY ALEXANDER / ALL CANADA PHOTOS” caption_location=”inside-image” align=”left” margin_bottom=”10″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Ikhil gas field and its small pipeline came online in 1999, making it the Canadian Arctic’s first-ever commercial natural gas project. It remained in operation until 2012, when the gas reserve was finally depleted. Inuvik faced the prospect of a return to diesel. But Ikhil left a legacy in the form of a local gas-fired power plant and distribution system — one that could be readily adapted to run on liquefied natural gas. It was an intriguing idea, and the opportunity to learn about the viability of LNG in a remote community was hard to pass up.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]Inuvik’s LNG project has now been officially in operation since January 2014. Its $6-million price tag has been deemed economical, but its logistics remain complex. Although a gas-based system was already in place, it did require the construction of a storage facility to keep the LNG in liquid form until it is ready to burn. Further costs came with the need to build a vapourizer to turn the liquid back into gas.

LNG must also be shipped 7,500 kilometres from Vancouver to Inuvik, travelling up the Dempster Highway, which is prone to weather outages and seasonal closures at river crossings during break-up and freeze-up. For this reason, Inuvik’s LNG plant runs on a “just in time” basis, burning natural gas whenever it can, while having full diesel generation available to keep the system functioning reliably.
 Even with these challenges, LNG is generating savings in Inuvik compared to burning diesel. More than that, the N.W.T. government is holding out hope that the project will demonstrate LNG’s value as a fuel source in other road-connected communities, especially if LNG sources develop closer to the territory. Or as Premier Bob McLeod said at the opening of the Inuvik project, “As this project proves out successfully, we will be able to consider similar projects…creating similar benefits for residents, businesses and the environment.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_button dimension=”three” size=”large” outline_skin=”dark” outline_active_color=”#fff” outline_hover_color=”#333333″ bg_color=”#13bdd2″ text_color=”light” icon=”moon-next” url=”/powering-the-north/5/” target=”_self” align=”right” fullwidth=”false” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”15″ animation=”scale-up”]Next Page[/mk_button][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″]