News

The October 2023 edition of the all-Canadian Health, Wellness, and Safety Newsletter is here!  Inside this month’s issue you'll find articles on Halloween safety, knee injuries, winter driving, extreme weather and much more.  Have a read!

The September 2023 edition of the all-Canadian Health, Wellness, and Safety Newsletter is here!  Inside this month’s issue you'll find articles on  common fire hazards, avoiding overloading electrical outlets, safety complacency, workplace stress and much more.  Have a read!

iManage has been NTPC’s records management tool for a number of years but its effectiveness declined as employees became more comfortable with document management, and the clarity around when a document becomes a record has faded.. The IT group reviewed the records management market to investigate if a shift in platforms was warranted, however it is clear that the iManage system is still a market leader in this space. Upgrading the system was clearly the right path, along with a reinvestment in training for staff on the difference between a document and a record.

Once that decision was made, it was time to develop a plan to bring the upgrade project to life. The active involvement of almost every member of the IT team is necessary to make that happen.

Leah Plett provided information for the consultants regarding our current iManage environmental information: server names, IP addresses – all that necessary info so they know what to upgrade, and where it is located.

User account requests were submitted for both “test user” and “test admin” accounts for all the consultant engineers. Stan (the Man) Hulan brought those components to life with some heroic Helpdesk work.  This will allow the consultants to upgrade what they need to upgrade, and then test the results as a regular user.

Andrew Brown was another ‘behind-the-scenes’ helper by providing updated/temporary VPN connection parameters for our staff so they could access internal resources (like Active Directory) and keep things moving. Without that step, we would be further delayed.

Darcy Delorey took the lead on the security side of things by compartmentalizing the consultant’s user and administration accounts within Active Directory to ensure the Consultants can do their job, without requiring elevated permissions outside the iManage environment.

Adam Montague has been consulted along the way to ensure the plan falls within NTPC’s guidelines. He has always been responsive and provided good feedback when it was needed to make sure we are staying compliant with internal policies and has assured us his staff is available if we need them at any point further.

A hosting request for a virtual machine was submitted via K2, which is overseen by Leah and Kirti Minocha. Loudwin Vasquez has begun to work on this virtual machine. . Currently, it is in the process of being converted into a usable virtual machine in the Citrix world. This machine is instrumental in the grand scheme of things, as this is an identical copy of our average workstation. This will permit us to test and confirm that the upgrades will function correctly. Once that virtual machine is ready, the real work can begin by the consultants.

Wrangling this all together and acting as the primary interface with the vendor on Project Management is Greg in his first large scale engagement in his new role. As you can see, a large percentage of the IT department has already been involved in one capacity or another. A great team effort!

With power now fully restored in Behchoko, NTPC is providing power to the community from the Frank Channel diesel plant. The transmission line that normally feeds Behchoko was damaged during the wildfire and power from Snare won't be available until repairs are made. In the meantime, the Frank Channel plant must be staffed 24/7 to ensure reliability of service by managing daily maintenance and fuel resupply.  

Charlie Simpson, Plant Superintendent in Wha Ti (on the left) has volunteered to fill that role for the next week, living and working on site. On Thursday, August 4, Charlie arrived in Behchoko and was present for the re-energization of Rae after the evacuation order was lifted by the Community Government.  David Anderson, Yellowknife Plant Operator (on the right) was also present, preparing for the successful re-energization of Rae and orienting Charlie to his new temporary assignment. 

Thank you to Charlie for stepping up and to others who have volunteered to staff the plant in the coming days until the transmission line can be restored.

Wildfires continue to pose a risk to communities and NTPC assets across the NWT and we recognize that many workers have gone above and beyond during these challenging times. Thank you for your efforts.

On Monday, July 31, NTPC was pleased to host Minister Archie, Gwich’in Tribal Council Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik, Inuvik Mayor Clarence Wood and other dignitaries for a ribbon cutting at the Inuvik High Point Wind site. Despite some very foggy and smoky conditions, the event was a success and received favourable media coverage.

Even though the wind turbine is still being commissioned, the ribbon-cutting was held to mark a significant milestone for this long-awaited project, acknowledging what local residents have been able to see for themselves since June -- a completed wind turbine!

Over the next month or so, commissioning of the wind turbine, the battery energy storage system, the microgrid controller and the new distribution line will be completed and we expect the project to be completed by mid-September.

The wind turbine will begin contributing clean electricity to the Inuvik grid before we know it!!

Additional photos from the news conference and ribbon cutting can be found here.