“Nunavik community hopes hydro electric project reduces dependency on diesel”, Oct 13, 2023

In Inukjuak, an Inuit community on the shoreline of the Hudson Bay in Northern Quebec, a hydro project is about to go live that leaders hope will reduce dependency on diesel and bring tens of millions of dollars into the community. The project is called Innavik Hydro.

“[The project] has taken over a decade to develop but it reduces all the diesel for both power and heat in the community. It will actually reduce more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than any single community in Canada, ever,” said Henderson [the founding executive director for Indigenous Clean Energy].

Once the hydro project is online, 80 per cent of the community’s power needs are expected to be met by hydro power...

The Kativik Environmental Quality Commission (KEQC) analysed the project’s environmental assessment. When it approved the project it was with several conditions including monitoring water quality and mercury levels as the project was developed.

At community meetings, KEQC heard from people who were concerned about the effect that the new development would have on animals, and therefore hunting in the area.

Young people also expressed their disappointment at not having a chance to comment as the initial vote to accept the project was over ten years ago. The assessment also determined no animals with special status were within the project area and that the contractors would need to use existing infrastructure, roads and to minimize the impact to the surrounding wetlands.

Unlike traditional hydro dams, water is not stored but returned into the river. So it does not flood fields like hydro dam projects that were previously built.

Other conditions were including a plan to maximize local employment, and the requirement that there must be a report every five years that shares information about community reinvestment...

Fifty per cent of the revenue generated will be reinvested into the community, thereby funding a variety of essential programs.