Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be to the Minister of strategic infrastructure, including the long name that comes after that. No one seems to be able to remember it.
Mr. Speaker, knowing that we're moving forward on the Clean Design initiative in Fort Simpson, which I think is a fantastic problem being involved and confronted with real tangible guaranteeable solutions, Mr. Speaker, does the Minister intend to expand this potential solution to other areas, such as Yellowknife and other large communities and regions, such as maybe Inuvik and Hay River. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Minister responsible for Strategic Infrastructure, Energy, and Supply Chains.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the big reason that there is a pilot running in the community of Fort Simpson is, in fact, to confirm whether or not the fairly significant infrastructure costs associated with this particular battery optimization system will be offset by savings in diesel fuel. If that is the case and if that can therefore offset those costs, then we may well see that this is an opportunity for us in other communities. Thank you.
That's quite a title, hey. Mr. Speaker, the question is, next is what is this pilot initiative going to cost this government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've structured the pilot process such that it won't bring costs on the ratepayers right now and that we're going to be -- that's exactly is, again, back to why it's a pilot. It's being run as a pilot in a way that if there's not enough savings to pay for it, then we would not be on the hook for anything extra, meaning that it's not going to be on the backs of ratepayers. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my last question is really built around the cost. Is the Minister able to give us a sense of how much it's costing and where the money's coming from because it's -- if it's -- it's not free and it's not costing the ratepayers, it must be costing somewhere -- coming from somewhere, and as such we must have a general idea how much this is going to cost. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is exactly some of the details that are still being worked out. I don't want to misspeak in that this is still a private company and they have a number of contracts elsewhere, so I don't want to speak out of turn. But, again, the point here was one where we would pilot this in a way that if there are sufficient cost savings and that can help offset those costs, and if there's not then this may be a pilot that doesn't go much farther. Again, the company's very confident in their technology, and that gives us the confidence to be able to move forward and hopefully then to see positive results. Thank you.
