Manitoba Hydro is reviewing an application to extend its transmission grid and fibre-optic cable 1,200 kilometres to communities in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut.
Nukik Corp. formally submitted its transmission service request on Nov. 4, said Manitoba Hydro spokesman Peter Chura. It initiates detailed technical and commercial studies that will determine how clean energy can be transmitted from Manitoba into Nunavut.
The line would deliver up to 150 megawatts of renewable electricity and connect to the communities of Arviat, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake, enabling high-speed, broadband connectivity for the first time in Canada’s Arctic.
The Manitoba Hydro building on Portage Avenue (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press files)
Nukik says it aims to provide the “essential power and communications backbone” for northern industries, communities and future development. Manitoba is “proud” to provide 50 MW of power to support the project, Finance Minister Adrien Sala said Thursday.
“This project will deliver clean hydroelectric power to Nunavut, improve connectivity, and create jobs,” Sala said in a statement.
In April, Premier Wab Kinew and Nunavut’s then-premier P.J. Akeeagok signed a statement to work together to push for an energy corridor to Canada’s North. At the time, Kinew directed Manitoba Hydro to plan to supply Nunavut with 50 MW of hydroelectric power once a transmission line is built.
The statement called on the federal government to back the Inuit-led energy corridor and associated hydroelectric upgrades. It promised that Manitoba and Nunavut would work with First Nations in the region to ensure their support for the project, and to preserve lands and waters for the long-term health of the caribou population for generations of Inuit, Dene, Cree and all Canadians.
To date, the federal government has contributed $14.4 million for project development-phase activities, which include the engineering, design and environmental fieldwork necessary for the project to move forward.
“Funding for the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link project will combine private equity, financing, and the continued strong partnership of the federal government,” Nukik CEO Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin said in a statement Thursday. Private capital will play an important role, supported by financing based on electricity sales, she said.
The project is expected to cost $3 billion, “with a business model focused on maximizing revenues, private investment and financing, alongside a federal partnership,” Audouin said. Manitoba’s promised allocation of 50 MW of power won’t come at a cost to the province’s ratepayers, she said.
“The project represents long-term revenue prospects for Manitoba and will open a new era of investment in the region,” she said.
The transmission corridor would replace costly, polluting diesel generation with reliable renewable power and bring high-speed fibre-optic cable to remote communities and “strategic mineral regions” while strengthening Arctic resilience and Canada’s sovereignty, Nukik’s news release said.
A proposed timeline for the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link says construction would start in 2028 and be completed by 2032.
It’s too soon to provide any information about the transmission service request, Chura said.
“(Transmission service requests) are evaluated with existing staff and resources, and this request is at the very early stage of review,” he said.
Manitoba Hydro last extended its grid to Saskatchewan with the Birtle transmission project, a 230-kilovolt transmission line from Birtle Station in western Manitoba to the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, Chura said.
It began operating in March 2021. Manitoba Hydro supplies up to 315 MW of hydroelectric power to Saskatchewan each year.
Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan had concerns about the project and who’d be responsible for cost overruns.
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“If you look at the 1,200 kilometres that this line is proposing, Bipole (III) was 1,300 kilometres at a price tag of almost $5 billion.”
That transmission line was estimated to cost $2.2 billion and ended up costing twice as much.
Khan asked where Manitoba Hydro will find the added power capacity to supply Kivalliq when it’s projecting that it will be squeezed to meet demand from within the province in the coming years.
“Transmission is one thing, but what are we doing for energy and power creation? What is the plan there?”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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