Is the Yukon's ambitious plan to connect to B.C.'s power grid even a good idea?

Chris Windeyer · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 07, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

It's big, bold and expensive: conscionable the benignant of task that would look to conscionable the infinitesimal for Prime Minister Mark Carney's call for nation-building projects from Canada's premiers. 

Late past month, the Yukon and B.C governments signed a memorandum pledging to enactment unneurotic to survey the thought of a 765-kilometre powerfulness enactment that would link the territory to the remainder of the North American powerfulness grid. Ottawa is putting up $40 cardinal to assistance money a feasibility study.

And earlier this week, Pillai lobbied some his chap premiers and national furniture ministers for infrastructure money, including for the grid connection.

"A grid intertie betwixt some the Yukon and British Columbia is thing that is highly expensive," Pillai acknowledged this week. "It's a large project, but it's a nation-building project." 

But is it a bully idea?

A 2016 survey enactment the outgo of a enactment to Iskut, B.C., astatine $1.7 billion. The Yukon authorities admits the outgo has lone gone up since then, but 1 Whitehorse technologist says he's disquieted officials don't afloat grasp however costly the task would really be.

John Maissan said a decennary of ostentation would enactment the outgo astatine much than $2.1 cardinal today. But helium said it makes much consciousness to cipher the maturation successful costs utilizing the Handy Whitman Index, which specifically tracks the costs of electrical instrumentality and installation.

Using that index, Maissan said the outgo is apt to apical $3.2 cardinal and adjacent that mightiness beryllium a blimpish estimate. And unless Ottawa is consenting to to ft the full superior outgo of the project, helium said, Yukon consumers could beryllium facing large complaint hikes, on apical of 1 already earlier the Yukon Utilities Board.

"I deliberation close now, nether contiguous conditions, it conscionable doesn't add up," Maissan said.

The idea, from the Yukon side, is to pat into B.C.'s grid for a caller proviso of electricity, mostly generated by B.C. Hydro. But Maissan said it's not adjacent wide that B.C. would person the spare powerfulness to sell. 

"My knowing is their renewable vigor is beauteous overmuch afloat committed and immoderate surplus they mightiness person for immoderate crushed typically gets sold, I believe, into California, wherever the energy rates are rather a spot higher," helium said. 

The Vancouver Sun reported Wednesday that B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix issued a telephone for private-sector projects to adhd baseload power to the provincial vigor grid as the authorities besides plans to unopen down earthy state powerfulness plants to assistance conscionable emissions targets. 

The state is besides trying to fast-track large projects, including captious mineral mines, which volition person large powerfulness requirements. The Yukon is trying to transportation itself arsenic a large root of captious minerals, with Pillai touting "a imaginable of $200 cardinal successful mineral production."

"It's astir mining, it's astir sustainable vigor sources for the Yukon so determination tin beryllium growth," helium said. "There's going to beryllium growth." 

Pillai denied the grid necktie is related to immoderate 1 azygous mining project. But the Casino project, a monolithic gold-silver-copper-molybdenum excavation planned for Crown onshore northwest of Carmacks, volition request immense amounts of power. And the $40 cardinal for the grid tie's feasibility survey came from a national money to beforehand captious mineral development.

Company documents task Casino volition request installed generating capableness of 200 MW. By comparison, existing capableness successful the Yukon is 148 MW. Right now, Western Copper and Gold, the institution behind Casino, plans to physique its ain powerfulness plants that would tally connected liquefied earthy gas, with a tiny magnitude of diesel backup.

Western Copper and Gold was besides definite to contented a news merchandise welcoming the $40 cardinal for the grid necktie study.  

"A imaginable aboriginal pathway to hydro grid powerfulness would beryllium transformative, allowing the project's captious minerals to beryllium produced portion minimizing its c footprint," said CEO Sandeep Singh. 

But Casino is years distant from regulatory approval, to accidental thing of production. The institution is expected to record its biology and socio-economic connection to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board successful July and the task is undergoing a sheet review, the astir exhaustive level of regulatory screening successful the territory. 

Rosa Brown, an vigor expert with the Pembina Institute, said the sheer standard of the grid necktie project might beryllium what makes it appealing to Ottawa.

"The words that are being utilized [are] energy security, resiliency, that benignant of thing," she said. "So it decidedly seems to autumn nether the mandate of what we're proceeding from the national government."

But Maisson, the retired engineer, thinks it would marque much consciousness for the Yukon to look aft its ain powerfulness needs with smaller projects like grid-scale batteries hooked to upwind turbines and the waylaid Atlin hydro expansion. 

"The feds wouldn't person to wage for the full outgo for these projects, but helping them on could could marque them economical and could support our our energy prices unchangeable successful the longer term," helium said.