Feds to advise project to bring hydroelectricity to Nunavut from Manitoba

A federal Crown corporation has signed on to help advise a plan aiming to bring hydroelectricity and broadband connectivity to Nunavut.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (C.I.B.) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the proposed Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, according to a press release sent Wednesday.

The proposed project involves the construction of a new 1,200-kilometre,150-megawatt transmission line between Nunavut and Manitoba.The proposed project would power five communities and two mines, costing Qulliq Energy Corporation 50 per cent less than diesel-generated power and reduce air pollution and the risk of fuel spills.

The Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link promises to provide renewable, sustainable, and reliable hydroelectricity and broadband service connectivity to communities for the first time.

The signing confirms the Canada Infrastructure Bank will work with the Kivalliq Inuit Association andpartners on the planning and development of the proposed project.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank will contribute by conducting market analysis, and providing commercial and investment expertise, according to the press release.

'Important to the North,' says Inuit association

Kono Tattuinee, the president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, saidthis is an important step in moving the project forward.

"We're really looking forward to working with C.I.B. and the federal government on this. It's important to Canada, it's important to the North," said Tattuinee.

He also saidthat the project is an important step toward fighting climate change.

"This would be a great way of showing the region, Nunavut and Kivalliq in particular, that we're going to go with the clean energy," said Tattuinee.

Tattuinee saidconstruction for the project could potentially begin within three years.

This is not the first federal support the proposed project has received.The Liberal government funded a feasibility study of the projectat a cost of $1.6 million, in February 2019.