The Nunavut government is in the process of setting targets for energy efficiency and alternative energy production, in an effort to reduce the territory's expensive dependence on fossil fuels.

Officials with Nunavut's Energy Secretariat say targets will be in the implementation plan for the Ikummatiit energy strategy, which was released in 2007 and runs through 2020.

The plan is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.

"It sets energy-saving targets for all of the various areas, from housing to [Nunavut government] buildings," Meghan Bennett, acting director of the Energy Secretariat, told CBC News.

Nunavut largely relies on oil products, from diesel to heating fuel, to meet the energy needs of residents, businesses and government.

But the cost of oil has put a financial burden on the territorial government, which imports 187 million litres of petroleum products into the territory every year. This year's shipments alone are expected to cost the government about $218 million.

Bennett said she cannot discuss specifics of the energy targets until the implementation plan secures ministerial approval. However, she said it will include targets to reduce the government's energy use and encourage alternatives such as hydroelectricity, wind energy and possibly even tidal energy.

"We do see it [oil costs] coming down with energy efficiency projects that we have underway within our government buildings," Bennett said. "Alternative energy, certainly, we're going to be setting targets."

A major component of the alternative energy target would come from Qulliq Energy Corp.'s proposed five megawatt hydroelectric dam outside Iqaluit, but Bennett said Nunavut is also in the process of determining the most productive wind power sites.

That came as good news to Sean Whittaker, vice-president of policy with the Canadian Wind Energy Association, who said improvements in wind energy technology have made modern wind turbines suitable for Arctic climates.

"We've seen, particularly from experience in Alaska, where there are upward of 20 or 30 turbines installed, that they can provide very reliable and relatively competitive power," Whittaker said.