Yukon, NWT, Nunavut Receive $7M for Clean Energy Projects

Ottawa is putting nearly $7 million behind a northern clean-energy package that is deliberately local in scale: grid studies, solar installations, microgrid design, a hydrokinetic demonstration, biomass-heating work and wind assessment across Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Federal Environment, Climate Change and Nature Minister Julie Dabrusin and Brendan Hanley, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Northern and Arctic Affairs, announced the funding for eight projects intended to strengthen local electricity systems, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, support long-term economic growth and provide reliable clean power to northern communities.

A northern electricity push

According to Natural Resources Canada, the announcement took place on July 29, 2026.

The funding lands in a part of the country where energy planning often has to be done community by community. The federal framing is focused on practical electricity needs: stronger local systems, less fossil-fuel reliance and clean power that communities can count on over time.

Rather than a single large project, the package covers eight initiatives spread across the three territories. The federal government has presented the investments as part of a broader effort to build clean electricity capacity and support northern economic resilience.

Seven rural and remote projects

According to Natural Resources Canada, seven of the projects are supported through the Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program.

Those include northern grid impact studies, a Fort Providence hydrokinetic demonstration, solar projects in Resolute Bay and Chesterfield Inlet, Arviat microgrid design work, Kuugalak embodied-carbon analysis and a downtown Whitehorse biomass-heating feasibility study.

The list shows how varied the clean-energy work is across the North. Some projects focus on studying and modelling local grids. Others are tied to solar power, microgrid planning, hydrokinetic technology, biomass heating or the carbon footprint of construction.

Natural Resources Canada describes the Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program as supporting projects that reduce reliance on fossil fuels for heating and electricity in Indigenous, rural and remote communities across Canada.

Wind assessment in Kivalliq

The eighth project is supported through the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program, according to Natural Resources Canada.

That project is Nunasi Corporation’s mobile wind-resource assessment in Baker Lake, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet. Natural Resources Canada says the work advanced wind-energy development in Baker Lake toward construction planning.

The Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program supports renewable energy, grid modernization and energy storage work. In this case, the federal funding is tied to assessing wind resources in three Nunavut communities and moving Baker Lake’s wind-energy development further along the planning path.

Strategy and affordability backdrop

Mirage News reported that the government framed the investments as building on its forthcoming National Electricity Strategy.

According to Mirage News, the government cited electricity demand expected to double by 2050 and northern and remote utility rates that are six to ten times the national average. That framing places the northern projects inside a national electricity debate about affordability, reliability and future demand.

The government’s public language emphasizes energy security, competitiveness and affordability. For northern communities, the announced projects are aimed at more immediate local systems: how power is studied, generated, assessed and planned in communities where reliable electricity is central to long-term growth.

Local projects, shared purpose

The eight-project package brings together very different kinds of work under one clean-energy umbrella. A solar project in one community, a microgrid design in another and a wind-resource assessment elsewhere do not look the same on the ground. But the stated purpose is consistent: stronger electricity systems, reduced fossil-fuel reliance and more reliable clean power in the North.

For Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the announcement signals continued federal attention to clean electricity at the community level, with funding spread across planning, feasibility, analysis and early-stage development as well as generation-focused projects.

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