Tangerine Technology, which calls itself Yukon’s “largest IT solutions provider”, says it’s had enough of what it calls ATCO Electric Yukon’s unreliability.
“I usually don’t have to go very far to find a Yukoner who’s fed up with our lack of reliable electricity,” Martin Lehner, Tangerine Technology’s general manager, said this week.
“Every time mainline electricity is disrupted, it affects our clients negatively,” noted Martin Lawrie, Tangerine’s chief operating officer.
“Sunday’s outage in Whitehorse’s downtown, which for some locations lasted upwards of two hours and 20 minutes, has a material impact on businesses and organizations who rely on technology to operate.”
Despite The Yukon Star’s request for information this week, ATCO has yet to release a cause for that outage – which was preceded by two others, particularly affecting Whistle Bend and the Mayo Road areas.
“This is just the latest in a long string of mainline electricity outages,” said Lehner. “While the territorial government has placed an emphasis on financially supporting a nearly $100-million investment in Internet redundancy (the Dempster Highway fibre optic line project), they have essentially ignored our entire power grid.
“Frequent electrical outages continue to happen, and Internet redundancy will do little to keep Yukoners connected if we can’t deliver power to our technological infrastructure.”
Tangerine says it’s in a conundrum, since it’s insisting the Yukon government take more action on improving the reliability of mainline electricity, while recognizing that these frequent outages are “extremely positive for its own business.
“Every time there’s a major power outage, it’s pretty much guaranteed that Tangerine Technology will accumulate thousands of dollars in additional billings to its clients,” Lawrie said. “Lengthy outages that outlast the capacity of standard battery backup systems cause computer networks to power off abruptly, often not resuming regular function when power is restored.”
Lehner said the government remains hypocritical in its assertions it’s creating redundancy in telecommunications.
“You can’t stand there and tout a nearly $100-million investment in Internet redundancy, and then completely ignore an electrical grid that can’t deliver reliable power,” he said. “As a longtime Yukoner, it’s embarrassing and ridiculously pathetic that we can’t keep a basic life necessity such as electricity reliably online.”
The government responded in a statement, “Ensuring reliable electricity for Yukoners is a priority for our government, and we acknowledge the concerns raised by Tangerine Technology regarding recent outages.
“While electricity outages in the Yukon are generally much shorter than outages in southern Canada, which can last for several days, we understand that any power outages can negatively impact businesses and residents alike,” the statement added.
“We are committed to ongoing improvements and investments in our infrastructure to enhance power reliability across the territory.”
These include investments in grid-scale battery storage technology, working with Yukon First Nations development corporations to invest in renewable electricity generation projects, and upgrading the Mayo-McQuesten transmission line, the government added.
It also cited upgrading the grid in Dawson City, replacing aging infrastructure in Mayo, upgrading the Riverdale substation, replacing end-of-life diesel generators in Faro, and supporting large-scale commercial and industrial biomass heating projects.
“We would like to thank the hard-working individuals at ATCO and Yukon Energy who respond around the clock to get the power back up and running when outages do occur,” the government added.
