Northern Canada Bringing Solar-Storage to Bolster Microgrid on Yukon Tribal Land

    June 24, 2025
    The Sādę Solar Initiative project will install 2.85 MW in photovoltaic capacity and a battery energy storage system and curtail diesel-powered generation at Watson Lake.
    Image credit Timkal, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
    685ae3197da8603ae0b22fae Watson Lake Region Wikipedia

    The Canadian federal government has joined with the Yukon government and First Kaska Utilities to invest $28.6 million in Canadian dollars (US$20M) to replace diesel generation with microgrid-ready solar and battery storage in the nation’s westernmost territory.

    The Sādę Solar Initiative project will install 2.85 MW in photovoltaic capacity and a battery energy storage system to be connected into an existing microgrid at Watson Lake. The power system is currently reliant on mainly diesel generators alone.

    Northern Canada territories such as Yukon and Northwest have been seeking microgrid proposals to solve remote energy challenges.

    “The Sādę Renewable Energy solar farm project provides meaningful economic development potential for the Liard First Nation and is a great step in reducing pollution and advancing economic reconciliation,” Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson said in a statement. “The project is to be the largest solar Indigenous-led energy project in the Canadian North and is another example of how successful partnership with Indigenous Peoples ensures Canada can become a clean, affordable, reliable energy superpower.”

    The solar and storage deployment could help increase off-time for the diesel-powered generation. This could cut about one million liters of diesel consumption and reduce emissions by 3,500 metric tons annually, according to estimates. The Sādę solar array and existing microgrid are in asserted territory claimed by the Liard First Nation tribe.

    Watson Lake is a Yukon town close to the British Columbia border. The community is a primary center of forestry and mining activity for the Yukon territory.

    First Kaska Utilities has structured a 25-year agreement for the sale of power from the Sādę to ATCO. It is designed to be the largest solar energy project north of 60 degrees latitude or the 60th Parallel North, according to the utility.

    Solar and storage microgrids in remote communities of Alaska and northern Canada are envisioned as ways to strengthen energy sustainability and resiliency while cutting diesel emissions. Although Canada’s national electricity is almost 83% carbon-free, with mostly hydropower and nuclear, some of its more remote areas are dependent on diesel and other fossil-fueled gen-sets.

    Some 30 northern and remote communities are not connected to the North American grid, according to the Natural Resources Canada report.

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor | Managing Editor

    For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023. 

    I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future. 

    Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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