Our Purpose
The Thermal Division manages the operations, maintenance, and distribution of electricity in a safe, reliable, efficient, and environmentally sound manner to the 18 communities in Thermal Region.
The majority of the generating equipment in the region are diesel fueled gensets comprising 61 gensets ranging in output from 80kW to 2,850kW and supported as required by seven emergency mobile generating units. In the Inuvik plant, two of the six prime movers are natural gas fueled gensets. The supply of natural gas comes either by road tanker from BC and stored at NTPC’s liquid natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Inuvik or in a limited supply through a gas pipeline from a local gas field.
On the renewable side of generation, the community of Colville Lake has access to electricity which is supplied from a hybrid power plant. Primarily in the summer, solar arrays provide power with battery backup and storage, system reliability and stability. Winter power supply is provided by diesel. Power in the communities of Fort Simpson, Wrigley, Fort Liard, and Aklavik is also supplemented by solar arrays.
Our Team
| Ian Flood | Director, Thermal Operations | |
| Assistant Director, Thermal Operations | ||
| Joel Hanthorn | Manager, Community Support | |
| Kyle Campbell | Manager, Maintenance Services | |
| Vacant | Manager, Operations & Maintenance, DehCho Sahtu | |
| Vacant | Asset Manager, Thermal |
Get to know members of our team here.
Thermal generation at NTPC is based on internal combustion engines, mostly diesel-fuelled.
Diesel is a non-renewable energy source -- meaning once it’s burned it’s gone for good. Diesel generator-sets, like your truck engine, use energy released from the combustion of fuel. Instead of turning wheels on a vehicle, they spin a generator to create electricity. Diesel is a primary power source and is used to generate 22% of the power in the NWT.
Diesel is a very reliable source of power. In the NWT, reliability is important with our extreme temperatures. Unfortunately diesel generation produces greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.
1 Natural Gas Plant
Natural gas engines in Inuvik are supplied with fuel trucked to the site as Liquified Natural Gas (LNG).
5 Solar Installations
NTPC has five solar installations in the Thermal Division -- in Aklavik, Fort Simpson, Fort Liard, Colville Lake, and Wrigley. Production from our solar sites can be viewed online:
Aklavik
NTPC must regularly reinvest in its assets to support reliability and environmental sustainability. There are always capital projects underway in the Thermal Division. Capital Projects Underway in 2022-23
