Paulatuk’s long road to 100-percent renewable energy

This week, Paulatuk will host a course on community energy systems as the hamlet tries to reach 100 percent renewables. 

The course, from May 27 to 30, was co-developed by the community and Yukon University. It will cover the basics of how energy systems in isolated diesel communities work, while teaching people about Paulatuk’s energy priorities and the types of jobs that may arise locally as the community moves to develop a wind project. 

The intention is to build capacity and spark interest around many aspects of renewable energy, said Grace Nakimayak, clean energy coordinator for the Paulatuk Energy Working Group, which has been spearheading the community’s work on renewables. 

“We’re really trying our best to expose our youth, our homegrown people,” Nakimayak said. The hope is that youth will go away to pursue training and come back home to a job in the energy sector. 

Until now, Nakimayak said, energy-related jobs have been relatively scarce in the community. But that may change in the future.

Paulatuk is home to about 350 people, is situated on the Arctic coast and has no road access to any other community. Goods and fuel arrive by air or sea.

For the past several years, Paulatuk has been working toward sourcing all its electricity and heat from renewables. It’s by far the most ambitious renewable energy goal in the territory and among the most ambitious Canada-wide. 

“It’s an incredibly ambitious goal to be making, especially for such a small and remote community,” said Adam Regier, a master’s student in the Re-imagining Social Energy Transitions (ReSET) colaboratory at the University of Victoria, who is studying energy-related aspects of decarbonization.  

Many cities have committed to sourcing all their electricity from renewables, Regier said, but only a handful are striving to reach 100-percent renewable energy, which typically means using renewables for energy across all sectors – including electricity, transportation, industry and heating.

According to a 2020 paper, Vancouver, Victoria and Saanich are the only Canadian cities that have committed to such a goal. Worldwide, only six cities have adopted the goal.

In Paulatuk, the community is trying to reach 100-percent renewables in electricity and heat, which will still require a significant shift. As of 2018, the community ran almost entirely on fossil fuels. 

One of the main ways the community intends to undertake the transition is through wind.

Currently, the Paulatuk Energy Working Group is in the early stages of developing a wind turbine and battery storage system that could theoretically provide electricity and heat to homes. 

“It’s going to take a lot of work,” said Ray Ruben Sr, Paulatuk’s mayor, referring to the 100-percent goal. 

Despite the challenges ahead, he said: “We’re optimistic, we’re enthusiastic.” 

Decades of work on renewables

Around 2022, residents of Paulatuk set their sights on reaching 100 percent renewables, according to Ruben. But they’ve been working on developing wind energy for much longer than that. 

In 2005, scientists from the Aurora Research Institute set up a wind monitoring station east of the hamlet. After measuring wind speeds for several years, they published a pre-feasibility study in 2009 that found winds in the area are strong enough to consider developing a wind energy project. 

At one of the two potential development sites the researchers examined, a wind project was anticipated to produce 88,000 kWh of electricity and displace 25,000 litres of diesel per year. For context, the community’s diesel generator used 459,000 litres of diesel per year in 2018 data.

Since then, the impacts of climate change and the rising cost of living have only increased the community’s determination to pursue alternative energy.   

“We’re dumping a lot of emissions out in the air, even for a small community,” said Ruben.

In the early 2020s, the community decided it was time to take action, forming partnerships and creating the Paulatuk Energy Working Group.

The goal of reaching 100-percent renewables was set after the group’s first meeting. Soon after, Nakimayak was brought on as the working group’s clean energy coordinator. 

Now, the community is working with partners to collect more data on wind and solar resources as well the community’s energy needs. They plan to use the information to figure out how to best move toward their target. 

Plans for hitting 100

Although it’s still unclear how exactly Paulatuk will reach the 100-percent goal, wind will likely play a key role. 

“Paulatuk has dubbed itself ‘The South Wind Capital,’” Ruben was quoted as saying in a 2021 press release announcing federal funding for a community energy plan. 

“Winter winds often become so strong and persistent they create snowbanks huge enough to bury houses. Kids can literally walk on the roofs and toboggan down the banks,” he continued.  

Details about Paulatuk’s ongoing wind project are not yet public, but Nakimayak said more recent reports and studies have been completed since 2009. Still more studies are ongoing. 

Asked how far off the project might be, Nakimayak said tentatively 2027 to 2028. 

“I can tell you right now that we’ll be getting ready to start initial design for the project within the next couple of months,” she said. 

The general idea being considered involves generating wind power and storing excess electricity in batteries and thermal storage units. These units are typically installed in homes and use electricity at off-peak hours to heat insulated ceramic bricks. The stored heat can be released later, when it’s needed. 

The community is looking at supplementing wind with solar. 

“We’ve got not only good winds but, for half the year, we’ve got good sunlight,” Ruben said.  

Solar panels have already been installed on the larger buildings in the community, with surplus energy being fed into the community’s grid. 

Last year, a spokesperson for the GNWT’s Department of Infrastructure told Cabin Radio Paulatuk was one of the NWT communities that had reached its limit in terms of renewable energy generation.

Because energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar is inconsistent, the GNWT caps intermittent renewable generation at 20 percent of average load in communities powered primarily by fossil fuels. According to the GNWT, this limit is intended is to keep systems stable and reliable. 

However, using battery storage systems allows communities to exceed the 20 percent cap. 

Batteries “cushion the impact on the baseload generators when the sun suddenly stops shining and solar generation essentially grinds to a halt,” the department’s spokesperson stated last year. 

Given this leeway, Ruben said Paulatuk is now considering developing a photovoltaic array like the one in Old Crow, Yukon. 

Questions of feasibility

The road to 100-percent renewables is a long one. Of the six international cities that have committed to 100-percent renewable energy, most are striving to reach their target by 2050.  

One of the major challenges is reliability.

All of those cities intend to scale up their local renewable energy production, but they also plan to use their grid connections to import at least some renewable energy to meet demand. 

Off-grid communities like Paulatuk essentially have two options for dealing with the question of reliability. 

“You can either only produce energy from renewable sources and store it through batteries or storage options, or you have more than one resource and switch between them, depending on what you need,” said Maya Willard-Stepan, another master’s student in the ReSET Colaboratory at the University of Victoria.

As far as battery systems go, seasonal storage is often a hurdle in Arctic communities looking to reduce reliance on diesel, according to Michael Ross, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation at Yukon University. Ross co-developed the upcoming community energy systems course with the community of Paulatuk.

Currently, Ross said, most battery systems can’t store energy for months at a time, but the technology is improving. 

Commonly used lithium-ion batteries typically provide a few hours of power before needing to recharge, but some companies are developing longer-lasting energy storage solutions. A startup in Boston, for example, is developing an iron-air battery that can last 100 hours.

As the technology evolves, Ross said, more opportunities may open up. 

Ross thinks that reaching 100-percent renewables in Paulatuk will be a challenge, but a challenge that can be overcome. 

“It’s going to be a very long journey, but there is an opportunity to get there,” he said.

Similarly, David Schwarz, manager of applied energy research programs at the Aurora Research Institute, said Paulatuk’s goal is reachable under the right conditions.

“You wouldn’t bandy around this 100 percent if it wasn’t actually feasible,” said Schwarz, who has been conducting wind and solar resource assessments in Paulatuk.

He pointed out that the consistency of the wind – which has yet to be determined – will be important for gauging how much the community can rely on it as a replacement for fossil fuels. It will also be important for determining how much energy storage the community will need to get through periods when the wind doesn’t blow.

“Battery storage is expensive,” Schwarz said. Depending on how much storage is needed, he added, questions about feasibility may come down to cost. 

The 2009 pre-feasibility study in Paulatuk found a wind project would require subsidies to compete with the cost of diesel. A wind project completed last year in Inuvik doesn’t set a great financial precedent – building it cost roughly twice the initial budget. 

Schwarz is still waiting to find out how costs will shake out in ongoing studies for the new project. However, since 2009, he said the cost of wind energy has dropped substantially, which might make a wind project more appealing. 

According to Ross, focusing on the economics of renewable energy projects also risks overlooking their broader value.

He said renewable energy projects have the potential to sustain local economies, align with local values and increase energy security by reducing reliance on diesel shipments – an issue top of mind as some communities face a summer without barges.

Ultimately, whether Paulatuk makes it all the way to 100-percent renewables doesn’t matter as much as the fact they have set an ambitious goal and are working toward it, according to Willard-Stepan. 

“All-or-nothing mentalities when it comes to decarbonization get in the way of a lot of projects,” she said. 

The community’s ambition also changes the conversation about renewables in the North and might provide an example for others to follow. 

“Depending on how progress evolves in the coming years, other communities and governments may be able to learn from this ambitious target and begin advancing work elsewhere within the territory,” said Emily He, manager of the Pembina Institute’s Renewables in Remote Communities Program, in an emailed statement. 

If Paulatuk can come up with a model that works, Ruben said he would like to see other communities join the hamlet’s effort. 

He added that even if the community isn’t able to reach the 100-percent target, it will still have made progress.

Rather than continuing to burn diesel and watch prices rise, Ruben said, the community is going to keep forging ahead. 

Clarification: May 27, 2024 – 11:13 MT. This article initially referred briefly to biodiesel as one option in northern regions. While biodiesel is an option in some northern areas globally, research carried out on the GNWT’s behalf has suggested “no suitable extreme cold climate products are currently available that would allow for secure, affordable and sustainable use in the NWT.”