For many Yukoners, a strong wind is little more than a mild annoyance and a reminder to pull our parka hoods more snugly around our faces. But for John Maissan, Yukon Energy's director of technical services, that strong wind could mean a whole new source of electricity for the territory.

For the last five-and-a-half years, Yukon Energy has been involved in a series of projects designed to see if it's viable to commercially produce wind power on a basis comparable with diesel. The verdict is still out, but Maissan says it's looking very favourable. In fact last year the company's Haeckel Hill experimental wind turbine, located just west of Whitehorse, produced more power than ever before. While the output was only about one-tenth of one-percent of the total electricity produced on the Yukon's power grid, Maissan says that's significant for a machine of that size. It's rated at 150 kilowatts, compared to the 600-kilowatt and larger wind generators that are fairly common in other parts of the world.

Maissan makes no apologies for starting small. "We need to go through these early stages with the minimum of capital cost. I expect we will, before too long, get to the point where we can say with confidence that yes, it is viable to put up a wind farm."

The president of Yukon Energy, Rob McWilliam, is delighted by the 1998 findings. "I'm very encouraged. I look forward to a time, soon I hope, when Yukoners can rely much more on 'green power' for their electricity needs."

John Maissan says the wind speed at the Haeckel Hill site is high enough for commercial use. While the wind speed may be sufficient, there have been problems with ice building up on the turbine blades, which causes them to be less efficient. Maissan says the recent installation of new heaters on the front edge of the blades seems to be helping.

The Haeckel Hill site is one of several that Yukon Energy is monitoring throughout the territory.

The company set up its first wind monitoring stations several years ago on Paint Mountain in Haines Junction and Jubilee Mountain in Tagish. Neither of those spots proved to have enough wind. A third one, on the East Dome in Dawson City, has shown marginal wind power potential, but icing is a culprit. Unlike the Haeckel Hill site, there is no power source to provide heat to the equipment. Until that site can be monitored with heated instruments the results will remain inconclusive.

A site that Yukon Energy hopes will yield more encouraging results is in Old Crow. Working with the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in 1996, the company set up a tower on the bluff just above the community. While results showed there wasn't enough wind in that spot, nearby Crow Mountain was much windier. Yukon Energy now has a small monitoring station there, which it will operate until the end of this summer.

Destruction Bay is another spot that may show potential for the commercial production of wind energy. Monitoring was done there in 1995-96 and 1997-98.

Perhaps one of the more interesting monitoring projects is taking place near MacKintosh Lodge in the Bear Creek area outside Haines Junction. Yukon Energy is providing some funding and expertise to a non-profit group called Boreal Alternate Energy Centre, which has received government money to set up a wind monitoring facility. The Centre is working on this project with the Alsek Renewable Resources Council and the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. The facility is set up on first nations settlement lands at the mouth of the Alsek valley. Data is just starting to come in and it's too early to know its full potential for the generation of wind power.

Yukon Energy did get some help in its wind research and development project. The Federal government, through Natural Resources Canada, contributed $119,000 over five years towards the 150 kilowatt wind turbine performance and bird monitoring. (A bird monitoring study found that towers and turbine blades apparently pose no threat to bird movements in the high altitude areas near Whitehorse.) And the territorial government is providing Yukon Development (Yukon Energy's parent company) with two-million dollars to buy and install a commercial scale wind turbine on Haeckel Hill. The turbine is expected to be set up late this summer or early this fall.

Yukon Energy's president, Rob McWilliam, is encouraged by this financial help. "I'm extremely pleased the Yukon government is supporting this important next step in research and development of wind power by arranging for the installation of a commercial sized wind turbine. It bodes well for the future of alternate energy sources in the Yukon."

John Maissan says this second turbine will be quite a bit larger (40 metres high as opposed to the current 30 metre high turbine) and more powerful (550 kilowatts instead of the current 150 kilowatts). It will also have blades with variable pitch, which means they twist to change the blade angle like an aeroplane propeller. This makes them more efficient in high winds and icing conditions.

It'll be quite a feat to install the tower. Because of its height, Maissan says "we'll have to bring up a large crane from Alberta or B.C. We'll also have to make sure that it can get up the Haeckel Hill Road. But once we're though this next step, we'll have enough information to evaluate whether the Yukon can go with wind power as part of its electricity supply."

Maissan is eagerly awaiting final results. "Originally I'd hoped to know after a couple of years whether wind power was viable for the Yukon. It's been five-and-a-half. But we should be able to say something definitive in another two years. I'm giving it that much time because this is leading edge stuff and there may be some bugs to sort out."

Maissan says if a decision is made to set up a wind farm, it's wide open as to who might do that. "It's possible it would be Yukon Energy but it might also be a private company." As to a location for a farm, he says it's unlikely it would be Haeckel Hill. Maissan thinks it makes more sense to use sites like Mt. Sumanik, located just to the west of Haeckel Hill. It's higher in elevation and has even more wind, although it lacks road access or power lines.

All in all, the results of Yukon Energy's work in the field of 'green energy' over the last five-and-a-half years have yielded some very positive signs in terms of wind energy development in the territory. It appears quite possible that over the next several years, Yukoners will be able to reduce their reliance on greenhouse gas-producing diesel and turn to a more environmentally-friendly way of receiving power.