How the midnight sun is helping displace fossil fuels in a remote Arctic community » Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

For the past decade, the midnight sun has been helping the remote community of Colville Lake in the Canadian Arctic decrease its dependence on fossil fuels.

Codzi: “Relying on fuel coming – those things are not for certain. What we know for certain is that the sun will shine and the wind will blow.”

Resident David Codzi says for many years, all of Colville Lake’s electricity came from generators that burn diesel fuel.

But getting diesel to the isolated community is tough.

In the summer, it’s accessible only by plane. And in the winter, fuel, food, and supplies arrive on trucks that drive hundreds of miles over ice and hard-packed snow.

So fuel is expensive. And deliveries can be unreliable during extreme weather or other disruptions to the supply chain.

So to obtain more affordable and reliable energy, the community installed a hybrid power plant with solar panels, batteries, and diesel generators.

The solar provides about 15% of the electricity the community needs annually. But in the summer, when sun is abundant, it generates a far larger share.

Codzi: “The power plant, you don’t hear it in the summer because it’s running off the sun.”

So for isolated areas like Colville Lake, renewable energy can be a step toward self-reliance.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media