Electrification could put a strain on the North’s electricity infrastructure. This study has some solutions

A new study from Yukon University outlines ways northern utilities can adapt to a surge in electricity demand as people shift away from burning fossil fuels for heat and transportation.

Michael Ross, a research chair in northern energy innovation who led the study, said more people switching to electric heating and electric vehicles will put a strain on existing electricity infrastructure.

The goal of his work was to identify challenges that could arise in neighborhoods in Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Dawson City, Yukon, and to highlight solutions that exist beyond costly infrastructure upgrades.

“There are several options,” he said. “We’re just scratching the surface of what that might look like, because these are all solutions to problems we don’t see yet.”

The Government of the Northwest Territories is encouraging people to switch to electric vehicles.

According to the territory’s Ministry of Infrastructure, 88 electric vehicles were registered in the NWT at the end of March. More than half of them were fully electric and the rest were plug-in hybrids.

The number of people in the NWT using heat pumps, which use electricity to heat and cool a building, is “difficult to track,” the ministry said. The Arctic Energy Alliance, based in Yellowknife, is studying its effectiveness in a northern climate.

Pricing and load control

Ross said demand management on the power grid is an “untapped resource” in the North and an alternative to upgrades for which customers would ultimately be responsible.

One way to manage this demand is to use dynamic pricing. This means pricing energy based on the time of day it is used, which encourages customers to reduce their consumption when the system experiences high demand. For example, electricity rates could be cheaper at night than when people come home from work in the evening.

Currently, the cost of electricity in the Northwest Territories or Yukon does not change depending on the time of day.

The report states that effective dynamic pricing methods can lower customer bills, reduce peak hour demand and can also help a utility save money because infrastructure upgrades can be avoided .

Another option highlighted by the report is direct load control, which gives the utility the power to manage certain devices – like air conditioners and heaters – and turn them off during peak hours.

“This change can protect the distribution infrastructure from overload,” the report said. “However, ultimate control generally remains in the hands of the consumer. A manual switch on direct load control devices allows consumers to opt out of direct load control events.”

Jay Massie, vice-president of northern development and indigenous relations at ATCO Electric – which owns Naka Power in the Northwest Territories and ATCO Electric in the Yukon – said direct load control is common on the east coast of Canada and could be an option in the North.

That’s because Naka Power plans to start using advanced net metering, he said. These types of meters installed in a customer’s home provide the utility with real-time information about where the electricity is going, and the report considers it a prerequisite for dynamic pricing and useful for direct load control .

Massie said Naka Power is also using power lines capable of handling more electricity, in an effort to adapt to the energy transition and increased electricity demand.

What could be the challenges

Ross’ study, which looked specifically at infrastructure and not production or capacity, found that as more people in the North use electric cars and heat pumps, problems could arise. occur with transformers.

These are the green boxes on the ground or the gray cylinders you see on utility poles, which adjust the electrical current flowing on the grid down (in Whitehorse, Ross said that’s 12.5 kilovolts) to a level that can be used inside a home (a standard wall outlet delivers 120 volts).

Massie said transformers installed over the past 10 to 30 years were designed to handle electricity for six to eight homes.

An electric vehicle, however, can use much of this capacity.

The study found that on Latham Island and Old Town Yellowknife, for example, a 50 percent increase in the number of people with electric vehicle charging infrastructure and a 15 percent increase electric heating – heat pumps, for example – This means a 10 percent increase in the number of overloaded transformers.

In the city’s School Draw neighborhood, however, the situation would be worse. Up to 32 percent of equipment could be overloaded by such new demand.

Ross said an overloaded transformer could overheat and malfunction, damaging the power grid. Other problems that could arise if the utility does not properly maintain power on the grid could be nuisance trips or too much or not enough electricity flowing for appliances to operate properly.

Although the report contains no surprises, Massie said the research helps the utility discuss the “right time” to encourage electric vehicles.

However, the Northwest Territories government is already offering incentives to get people to switch to electric vehicles.

It currently offers a $5,000 rebate for fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as up to $500 for Level 2 charging stations. The company is also building an electric vehicle charging corridor between Yellowknife and the Alberta border, and aims to reduce transportation emissions by 10 percent.