Pandemic adding to costs of N.W.T. hydro system failures

The COVID-19 pandemic is adding to the already high cost of bringing the Northwest Territories' hydroelectric system back into full service.

The Snare Forks hydro station has been at least partially shut down since a bearing failure in one of the two generating units a year and a half ago.

Almost two weeks ago, the Snare Falls hydro station was shut down after workers noticed an oil sheen in the water at Snare Falls. Although an initial inspection showed no leak, the facility was later shut down for another inspection and it was determined that oil was missing. The leak has stopped but the source of it is still unknown.

"Right now we're trying to identify the people and then we have to work with the [Chief Public Health Officer's] office to make sure we follow the protocol," said Shane Thompson, the minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC), referring to getting Snare Falls operational.

"The biggest thing is that we're looking at third party hydro experts to complete the repairs. So that's been a challenge to find the people," Thompson said.

Costs mounting daily

The repair of Snare Forks was being done in combination with a planned refurbishment. The corporation planned to have that work completed at the start of this year, with the plant ready to be recommissioned. Thompson said there's about another six weeks worth of work to be completed once technicians get back on site.

"We figure it's going to take up to six weeks for the contractor to complete the project once we have the team in place," Thompson said. "If the project is completed in July as currently planned there will be minimal impact on rates."

General Electric Renewable Energy is doing the repair and overhaul of Snare Forks. But that $6.3 million contract was tendered before the breakdown and does not include the cost of the repair work, some of which may be covered by insurance.

A month after the bearing failure that shut down the Snare Forks facility, the federal and territorial governments announced a total of $24.6 million in funding for that project. The federal government contributed 75 per cent of that amount.

Thompson said the corporation does not yet know how much it will cost to bring either Snare Forks or Snare Falls back into service.

The costs of having them out of service are mounting daily. Thompson said the cost of replacing two megawatts of hydro power with diesel power is about $15,000 per day. The corporation says that about 11.2 megawatts of its hydro capacity is currently unavailable due to the shutdowns.

Cyberattack still under investigation

On top of the mechanical problems that have knocked out more than a third of the Snare system's hydro generating capacity, the power corporation has yet to get to the bottom of a cyberattack on its computer system two weeks ago.

Responding by emails to questions from CBC last week, the corporation would not say whether it has paid any ransom to the hacker, "as it would further compromise security."

Employees have been issued new email addresses that are not part of the system that was hacked. The corporation's website remains shut down.

The corporation says it cannot say when its computer system will be restored.

"NTPC is taking a methodical and comprehensive approach to its investigation of the ransomware attack and recovery plans," it said in the email response. "Information technology services will not be restored until it has a high level of confidence that it can be done securely."