The word Innavik in the Inuit language refers to the sealskin pouch that contains flint and dry moss. The Innavik, the provider of heat and light, was as essential to life in the Canadian artic as food, water and shelter are today. Fittingly the project to bring life sustaining electrical power to the town of Inukjuak in the far north of Canada is called Hydro Innavik.

Hydro Innavik, the power generation and distribution project for Inukjuak, was completed this year and provides dual source electricity to this extremely isolated village on the northern shores of Hudson Bay. The project consists of a new "run of the river" hydroelectric dam of 7.5-Megawatts, a 6-Megawatt diesel back up generating station and a 25KV substation. The goal of this project was to provide a more secure energy source to the town while also insuring it was environmentally sustainable both in terms of local pollution impact and carbon concerns.

This project is hundreds of miles from the road network and electrical grid of North America so dependability was paramount, especially considering the extreme life-threatening climate much of the year. Construction in this part of the world is always a challenge and the remoteness also demands ultra-low maintenance requirements wherever possible.

The amazing hot-dip galvanizing story played well here, with nearly a century and a half of proven durability in the power generation and distribution industry. Galvanizing provides factory-controlled quality and the galvanizer provided professional bundling and a bar code identification system that insured that every piece of steel arrived where and when it was needed for erection. The artic is not a place to be looking for lost components or figuring out how to repair damaged materials hundreds of miles from the nearest road or city.

All these hot-dip galvanizing strengths came together during the short and challenging artic construction season and the proven durability of galvanized steel will surely aid Hydro Innavik to serve the residents of Inukjuak for many generations to come in this essential supply of dependable and sustainable electricity.