The major upgrade at Shand Power Station will be completed next week.

The $60 million project, the first major refurbishment of the 300 megawatt (MW) plant since 2005, saw Shand go offline for a period of time to accommodate the major overhaul.

“For this type of upgrade, we need to take the plant out of service, which means we rely on our other baseload power stations for backup,” said SaskPower CEO Robert Watson. “It's a good test of our system capacity and it also demonstrates why it's important that we continue to invest in a diverse mix of reliable power generation options, like coal, natural gas and hydro.”

In addition to preparing for a new carbon capture test facility at Shand, which is planned to get underway later this year, the work included a complete re-build of critical portions of the turbine generator, allowing it to operate for almost another decade without another major upgrade.

“These investments are needed to ensure our system operates at peak operational and environmental performance,” Watson added. “We're investing today to make sure we can meet Saskatchewan's growing power needs well into the future.”

Over the past two years, SaskPower has invested over $350 million to improve the efficiency and reliability of its fleet of baseload power stations including a $118.5 million refurbishment of hydroelectric facilities at Island Falls, E.B. Campbell and Coteau Creek.

There have been $105 million spent for capital upgrades, retrofits and improvements at Boundary Dam Power Station and a $10.3 million re-build of the Hitachi gas turbines at the Queen Elizabeth Power Station in Saskatoon plus $64 million in upgrades to the Poplar River Power Station near Coronach.