N.W.T.'s Taltson hydro plant back online — but it needs more work this summer

The Taltson hydro facility is finally back online — nearly two years after it was shut down for a big overhaul project, and now costing a total of $115 million — according to the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC).

In a news release Tuesday morning, the corporation said the refurbished hydro plant was providing power again to the South Slave communities of Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Enterprise and Kátł'odeeche First Nation. They've been relying on diesel generators while the work has been carried out.

The facility will, however, have to go back offline for a "brief period" sometime this summer. 

NTPC said that's because it put in an interim solution for some technical issues that cropped up earlier this year which still need to be permanently fixed. 

The 60-year-old Taltson hydro plant has been shut down since May 2023 for an overhaul that included replacing its turbine, turbine shaft, rotor and generator as well as other plant equipment that had reached the end of its life.

When the project started, NTPC expected it to cost between $60 to $70 million. The corporation said the cost went up to $97 million last summer and on Tuesday, it pegged the cost at $115 million. The federal government has kicked in $17.8 million, NTPC said.

Doug Prendergast, a spokesperson for NTPC, confirmed the increase in an email, saying the extra time that Taltson was offline drove up the price. The release said about $70 million is for the project itself, while $45 million is for fuel and "other operational costs required to keep the lights on in the South Slave."

"The Taltson overhaul has been one of the largest and most complex projects in NTPC's history. It faced many challenges, but our team of employees and contractors got the job done," NTPC's CEO and president, Cory Strang, said in the release. 

NTPC had also initially expected the facility to be online again by November 2023, but that was pushed back because of the 2023 wildfire season and technical issues that emerged the following winter. 

The facility is now expected to provide power to the South Slave for the next 50 to 60 years.