Dawson City, Yukon will soon harness the midnight sun

Dawson City will soon be generating renewable energy with its new solar power project.

The new solar array will generate 280-megawatt hours annually, enough to power upward of25 households all year.

"Everybody sees this as a great opportunity for Dawson to reduce our carbon footprint, bring us towardmore renewable energy sources, and it's just an all-around green positive project," Evelyn Pollock said, project managerwith the Klondike Development Organization.

The solar array will be built over a former municipal landfill by the Dome Road in Dawson.

Pollock saidthe project is a great opportunity to reduce their carbon footprint and the location is perfect for a solar farm.

"That's one of the appeals of this project, we are not having to cut down the forest to start the process," she said."We are not competing with other uses such as housing or recreation because the former use of the site is considered a contaminated site."

Dawson City is connected to the Mayo, Yukon hydroelectricdam. The community also has backup diesel generators.

Major funding for the project is being provided from the Canadian government investing $486,000 through the Arctic Energy Fund with the Yukon government contributing $71,000 and $101,949 from Klondike Development Organization.

Pollock says the first ten years of operating the solar power project will be done on a cost-recovery basis. The development organization will use the independent power producer program, which allows communities, residents, and businesses to sell renewable energy to the utility.

The solar power project is expected to be completed by the end of October this year.