Hydro Facilities
Yukon Energy has three hydro plants – one at Whitehorse on the Yukon River, one located at Aishihik Lake, and one in Mayo in the central Yukon. Together, the facilities have the ability to generate 92 megawatts (92 million watts) of power.
Whitehorse Rapids Plant
The Whitehorse Rapids generating facility was built in 1958 at a cost of $7.2 million. It began with two hydro turbines, and in 1969 a third one was added. A fourth turbine was installed in 1985 (referred to as the "Fourth Wheel") which doubled the capacity of the plant. Our Whitehorse hydro facility can now produce 40 megawatts of power in the summer and about 25 megawatts in the winter, where there isn't as much water in the Yukon River.
Aishihik Hydro Facility
The Aishihik plant has been operating since 1975. It was built to serve the growing electrical demands of Whitehorse and of a large lead-zinc mine at Faro in the central Yukon. The plant started with two 15-megawatt hydro generators and in 2011 we added an additional seven megawatt turbine. This new generator is allow us to use the water at Aishihik more efficiently.
An interesting fact about this facility is that it is located 110 metres underground.
Mayo Hydro
The Mayo A hydro facility has served people in that central Yukon community since 1951. With a capacity of five megawatts of power, it was originally developed to supply electricity to the United Keno Hill Mine at Elsa, located about 45 kilometres north of Mayo. It also supplies power to the communities of Mayo and Keno City and neighbouring areas.
The Keno mine closed down in 1989, leaving a surplus of hydro power in Mayo. To make use of this extra power, Yukon Energy built a transmission line from Mayo to Dawson City, some 232-kilometres away.
The Keno mine is operating once again. That, coupled with the growing demand for electricity from all our customer classes, has led us to build a new power house at Mayo (known as Mayo B) with a capacity of an additional 10 megawatts. Mayo B started operating in late 2011.
- Whitehorse Generating Facilities - English (1791 KB)
- Whitehorse Generating Facilities - French (1798 KB)