Overhaul of Taltson hydro facility in N.W.T. delayed again, cost goes up

The Taltson hydro facility in the N.W.T. will continue to be off-line until early 2025 — more than a year later than originally planned — and the cost of the facility's overhaul has now grown from around $60 or $70 million, to $97 million.

The delay is because of mechanical issues found during an overhaul of the 60-year-old facility.

In a news release on Wednesday, the Northwest Territories Power Corp. said the project had already been delayed earlier because of a seven-week evacuation of the site due to wildfires in 2023. The further delay is due to a "significant alignment issue within the unit" that has to be fixed before the facility can resume operations. It was identified earlier this year.

"Engineers and hydro experts from both within the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) as well as from external sources have been working to resolve the issue over the past several months but have been unsuccessful," the release states.  

Now, the unit must be disassembled to fix the problem and that's expected to take about five months. NTPC says the plan now is to have the facility up and running again by January.

The Taltson Hydro Facility is about 64 kilometres north of Fort Smith and was built in 1965. In April 2023, NTPC embarked on an overhaul to replace the major components of the 59-year-old hydro dam, such as the generator and turbine.   

South Slave hydro communities have been powered by diesel generators since the overhaul at Taltson began. Those communities — Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Enterprise and K'atl'odeeche First Nation — will continue to be powered by diesel until the hydro facility is fixed.

The new, $97 million price tag for the work includes the cost of fuel to power those communities, and NTPC customers will be helping to pay for it. NTPC said that will be partly reflected in the company's next General Rate Application.

"Full cost recovery will be spread over time so that customers today are not expected to pay all the costs for a project that will support reliable power supply for many decades," the news release states.