Challenges of Diesel Generation and Logistics in the North

Abstract

In a resource hungry world, Canada’s arctic frontier has seen a major increase in mineral exploration and mining development activity. With a near total lack of in-place infrastructure to support these activities, vast quantities of diesel fuel are being used to meet the electricity, process steam, and space heating requirements of these energy intensive operations. While this has proved to be a satisfactory solution in the past, the evolving dynamics of security of supply, fuel logistics, costs, and environmental concerns has cast serious doubt on the future viability of this energy source as the prime mover of large industrial projects in the north.