Taltson hydro expansion will cost up to $3 billion, minister says

One of the NWT government’s signature infrastructure projects is now expected to cost between $2 billion and $3 billion, Caroline Wawzonek told Yellowknife city council on Monday.

Wawzonek – who is now the NWT’s minister responsible for major infrastructure builds – gave that “rough” estimate for the Taltson hydro expansion as she took questions from councillors.

While that bracket is not precise, it’s an acknowledgement that costs have escalated from the previous $1 billion-plus price tag attached to Taltson.

If the project goes ahead, it would connect the South Slave’s Taltson hydro plant to the North Slave. The plan is to run a cable along the bottom of Great Slave Lake from east of Fort Resolution to Yellowknife’s existing Jackfish diesel plant.

Doing so will bring cheaper electricity to Yellowknife and nearby mines, the territory has argued, and will be the first step toward some kind of grid in the NWT, where most communities are currently reliant on their own (often ageing) power infrastructure to get by.

The GNWT has nowhere near the money to go ahead. It must first convince the federal government to unlock the cash required. If that happens, the territory is targeting a construction start date in 2028 and an operational grid by 2033.

Together, if the plan is carried out, Taltson and the North Slave’s Snare hydro system would offer 120 megawatts of capacity and jointly power more than 70 percent of the territory’s population.

The GNWT says it is working with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Łútsël K’é Dene First Nation, Deninu Kųę́ First Nation, Northwest Territory Métis Nation and Salt River First Nation as partners on the Taltson project.

The ultimate aim is to offer green power that’s cheap enough to help more resource development projects go ahead, while Taltson would help avoid the need to burn millions of dollars of diesel as a backup in North Slave drought years.

“If we needed power right now from Taltson, even when we’ve seen low water events, we’d have plenty of it that could come from Taltson and deal with the drought in the Snare,” GNWT strategic energy initiatives director Andrew Stewart told councillors on Monday.

Projects the territory imagines powering through the expansion include a reopened Pine Point mine in the South Slave and possible lithium and gold projects on the north side of the lake.

Wawzonek said the territory and its partners recently met with the Canada Infrastructure Bank – a federal agency that helps find public and private cash for big projects – to discuss options.

For years, federal ministers have said the Taltson expansion is on the verge of being fully funded. So far, confirmation of that funding has not emerged.

“That conversation is, I think, advancing well right now and more than it ever has in the past,” Wawzonek said.