Electric Vehicle and Smart Heating Opportunities in Yukon and NWT

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Within the Yukon, two thirds of the energy used for transportation and heating comes from fossil fuels. To reduce the territory's reliance on fossil fuels, Yukon Government has developed several ambitious policies to ensure that the territory's greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 are 30% lower than 2010 levels and they are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050. One of the cornerstones of these policies is the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and smart electric heating technologies, such as heat pumps and electric thermal storage units. By 2030, Yukon Government aims to have at least 4800 electric vehicles registered and on the road - constituting approximately 1 in 8 registered vehicles within the territory - as well as installing a wide variety of residential smart electric heating such as electric thermal storage units, which are being piloted by Yukon Conservation Society. These smart electric heating loads and electric vehicle fast chargers have different energy and power characteristics than traditional residential electrical loads for which Yukon's isolated power system was designed. These clean energy technologies will bring challenges to the electric power system that the utilities have not faced before. Many technical bottlenecks have already been encountered with the electric thermal storage pilot project, and the local utilities - Yukon Energy Corporation and ATCO Electric Yukon - anticipate that they are just scratching the surface. In order to meet Yukon Government's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, Yukon Energy Corporation, ATCO Electric Yukon, Yukon Government, and Yukon Conservation Society are eager to work with Yukon University on not only identifying the specific bottlenecks in the electric power system that could prevent these green initiatives from coming to fruition, but also developing novel solutions and specific infrastructure upgrades to mitigate these technical barriers. The results of this work will impact the operating budget of the local utilities and identify policies to meet greenhouse gas emission targets. While there is a burgeoning demand for a solution to these challenges in the Yukon, this is also a concern for other northern jurisdictions such as the Northwest Territories. NT Energy is keen on working with Yukon University in Year 2 of this project to address the specific bottlenecks for electric vehicle fast chargers and smart heating in the Northwest Territories through novel solutions.