NTPC is a wholly owned subsidiary of NT Hydro, which in turn is owned 100 percent by the Government of the Northwest Territories.
NTPC distributes electricity to end-use consumers in 26 of the 33 communities in the NWT and supplies electricity on a wholesale basis to two distributing utilities which, in turn, retail electricity to customers in Yellowknife and the Hay River area. NTPC's facilities include hydroelectric, diesel, and LNG (liquified natural gas) generation plants, transmission systems and numerous isolated electrical distribution systems. NTPC also owns and operates alternative energy assets used for the supply of residual heat, solar power and co-generation.
The Corporation's systems serve a population of approximately 43,000 in an area of 1.3 million square kilometers. Many of the communities NTPC serves are only accessible by air, barge or winter road.
The peak electrical load is approximately 62 MW. Isolated power systems have generating capacities ranging from 64 MW at Snare/Yellowknife to 230 kW at Jean Marie River and Nahanni Butte. There are two grids, in the north and south Great Slave Lake region linking six communities, and there are 20 independent systems. NTPC is regulated by the Northwest Territories Public Utilities Board (PUB).
NT Hydro also owns NT Energy, NTPC's sister company. NTPC maintains the electric system, while NT Energy pursues new industrial customers as well as low carbon energy options, with a view to integrating promising projects into the existing system.
Hydro represents 76% of the NTPC's generation activities. Approximately 24% of power is generated using diesel and LNG. Solar and other renewable generation sources currently represent less than 1% of total generation.