Tarquti

Nunavik is one of the four Inuit regions located in the northernmost region of Quebec, Canada. The 14 communities in this region use up to 85 million liters of diesel every year for their energy and transportation needs. One hundred percent of the energy produced and consumed now is fossil fuels distributed by one of Tarquti’s parent companies, Ilagiisaq. They felt that it was important to diversify their business practices, considering the necessity of energy transition.

A subsidiary of Nunavik’s main regional economic development organizations, Makivvik, the Nunavik Inuit Land Claim organization, and Ilagiisaq, the Federation of Nunavik Co-ops, Tarquti was created to keep the economic spinoffs of clean energy projects in the region.

Most often, in all types of projects, indigenous communities or individuals have no choice but to partner with already established southern companies that inevitably require a share of profits. The lack of expertise in the region is a major cause of this financial drain. Tarquti is a mechanism to retain as much economic benefit to the people as possible, which has been leveraged by Nunavik to create their clean energy development company.

Tarquti is a fairly new company that has gained tremendous momentum in the last two years. It has erected five wind measurement towers in five communities. The company’s dedicated workforce of local agents ensures that they are able to leverage the data collected to operationalize projects, with the main focus now on community engagement.

“We are an independent power producer dedicated to offset the diesel consumption in Nunavik communities and the whole region,” says Janice Grey, director of communications and community engagement of Tarquti. “We are a one-stop-shop as we do the development of community owned projects, engineering, financing, procurement, community engagement, construction, and operations of the renewable energy assets as well as operation and maintenance for the infrastructure’s life. It’s important to note that the ownership of the projects would belong to the communities where a local power corporation would to be created. In most cases, we see this being a limited liability partnership between the local Coop and the local Landholding Corporation, thus maximizing benefits, obs and procurement for the communities.”

Tarquti depends heavily on nature, with a short window for transport and construction. Arctic weather conditions pose myriad challenges, such as the lack of trees in the landscape to temper the windspeeds. This can be too extreme for turbine projects, making it important to choose manufacturers that can build turbines able to withstand extreme wind speeds and severe turbulence. Renewable energy is a new concept in the region and poses another unique challenge. One of the bigger issues is that the Inuktitut language for clean energy terminology has never existed before, and Tarquti has a lot of work to do to introduce these concepts.

Tarquti nurtures relationships with already established organizations to meet the needs of its people. For instance, its collaboration and exclusivity agreement with Hydro-Quebec (HQ) is a huge asset in competing in the regional clean energy scene.

“HQ took a huge leap of faith and put the power back into the hands of the people by choosing us, and we feel a strong sense of duty to honor all parties in this historic agreement,” says Grey.

Tarquti aims to have unprecedented penetration of renewable energy in each community, with a goal of 70 percent displacement of fossil fuels. This will vary from community to community, but with the diverse array of technologies at its disposal, Tarquti is certain to achieve this bold objective and an even greater penetration rate.