The Northwest Territories Power Corporation has announced that work on restoring the services of the Taltson Hydro Unit in Hay River will face yet another delay.
Taltson Hydro has been out of commission since May of 2023, when work first began on overhauling the machinery of the 60-year-old unit. The original projections had the maintenance being completed in November of 2023, but plans were delayed due to a seven week evacuation of the area due to wildfires.
The work on the Hydro Unit was able to continue in February of this year, at least until another complication was encountered. Contractors on the project discovered that there was a significant alignment issue within the unit that would need to be resolved before any further work could continue.
Engineers and hydro experts from within and outside of the NWT have been working to resolve this issue over the last few months, but have so far been unsuccessful.
This complication has resulted in a further delay of Taltson Hydro’s services until the unit can be fully disassembled, which will allow for the proper realignment of the key components. This work is expected to take five months to complete, with services returning in January of 2025.
Until then, South Slave communities will be required to continue using local diesel generators until the work is done. These generators are supplying power to Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Enterprise and K’atl’odeeche First Nation.
