Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure. Earlier today the Minister of Infrastructure spoke eloquently about the transformational energy that the Taltson hydro expansion could offer the North. I spoke earlier about a new idea that SSI Energy presented to our committee with regard to a concept for district energy systems that could really be transformational for remote communities on thermal energy. I'd like to ask the Minister, simply: has the Minister seen the presentation? Has he watched the video from SSI Energy to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I have. I've actually had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Jeff Philipp and Mr. Cadwell, I believe, and he discussed his idea with me at great length here about two weeks ago.
That's good news. I appreciate that the Minister has seen the presentation and has met with Mr. Philipp. That said, Mr. Philipp publicly stated in the presentation to our committee that his company would supply, fund, and guarantee such a system. I'm wondering if, in the Minister's discussions, did they have an opportunity to talk about any potential partnerships to invest in and put in or install this type of a system into any one of our thermal communities as a pilot project, even?
First of all, I'd be very curious to see reaction from committee when Mr. Philplipp did his presentation. As we all know, he's a very high-energetic guy. I call him the Elon Musk of the North. He has a lot of ideas. He's got a lot of stuff going on there.
In our discussions with Jeff, there are a few things that he wants to try to accomplish all at once, and I suggested that we need to piecemeal this a little bit if we're going to even have a look at this thing. He wanted to know who he needed to talk to within our department, and I directed him to our energy division to sit down and have those discussions with them. One of the things I was a little concerned about was which community he wanted to do it in, and maybe we should have a look at a, bite off a little smaller piece somewhere else, but he's adamant that he thinks he wants to do it within his community of Fort Providence. He's been asked to task my department to have those discussions and see if there's anything even possible.
Well, it sounds a little bit promising. I wonder if the Minister, knowing that there are many communities that have these large generators of which a number of them are scheduled at some point in time in the future here to be replaced, will the Minister work with his colleagues, in particular the Minister responsible for the Power Corporation or in his capacity as chair for Ministerial, Energy and Climate Change Committee-of-Cabinet, have a discussion about the opportunity of replacing one of these large generators with this multi-small-generator system that is being proposed by SSI Energy?
That's why I've actually asked Jeff to go talk to our energy division to have a look at what's possible. I'm not saying we're not going to do it. The whole idea of our action plan and our 2030 Energy Strategy is we have a three-year action plan, and we know technology is going to change significantly over the next 10 years on how we're going to address the greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the Northwest Territories, and Jeff has a great idea. I've asked him to have a serious chat with our department, and when I get the feedback from that, we could seriously have a look at this thing as viable and looking at changing out something in one of these communities if it's going to work.
At present, right now, we're still moving forward with our plan around wind and solar and biomass and LNG and the Taltson and variable speed generators in different communities. We will continue to work on that. I am not saying we are not against this project. We will certainly have a serious look at it.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do truly appreciate the intentions that the Minister has, and it seems that they are well-meaning and that we are heading in the right direction.
The district energy system that was proposed is certainly a game-changer unto itself, but a portion of that district energy system consists of these new super batteries made of graphene. These being used unto themselves can be used for multiple purposes; the Colville Solar Project, the Inuvik Wind Project, even remote mines. Would the Minister make a commitment to at least have the energy division look further into the use of these new graphene batteries? They alone could be used for multiple purposes, not having to change over small communities to whole new entire system, but just the use of these graphene batteries alone. Will the Minister commit to having his energy division look at little more into the graphene batteries? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am well aware of these batteries. Jeff actually met with me probably almost a year ago and had a discussion around these things. I think he has become now the actual Canadian supplier for these things. I don't think he has actually sold any quite yet. He is working on a number of initiatives right across the country on what he is trying to do.
We are having a look at these things. They have not been installed anywhere in Canada yet, but we have to have a serious look at how we are going to tackle these battery situations across the Northwest Territories, particularly around the wind and solar aspect of it. Most of these systems need a battery. The Member is well right that these things load up and keep power a lot longer. They can't freeze these things, so we have to have a serious look at it, and I have directed our energy department to have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
