SaskPower has announced the location for its first utility-scale solar power facility, and it won’t be in the Estevan area.
The facility will be constructed in the rural municipality of Coulee, to the east of Swift Current. SaskPower had also considered Estevan and Morse as possible locations for the project.
The Crown corporation announced Tuesday that Saturn Power is the successful proponent for the solar power site.
“This is an important project for SaskPower and the people of this province, and I’d like to congratulate everyone at Saturn Power on their successful proposal,” said Mike Marsh, president and CEO of SaskPower. “SaskPower has set a goal of greatly increasing our renewable generation capacity by 2030. Saskatchewan people can expect to see more announcements like this in the years to come as we work towards that commitment.”
SaskPower and Saturn Power have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for the 10-megawatt project. The Highfield Solar Project could be in service before the end of 2019.
“We look forward to helping Saskatchewan meet its carbon emission targets, in order to progress the use of clean energy and, most importantly, build a sustainable environment for future generations,” said Ray Roth, co-founder and chief operating officer of Saturn Power Inc.
Saturn Power is a renewable energy company, headquartered in Baden, Ont. It has over 100 megawatts of solar, wind and energy storage projects in operation and construction worldwide.
The competitive process for this project began in 2016. During the request for proposals process, SaskPower evaluated 16 proposals from 12 of the 34 pre-qualified proponents. The Crown corporation stated all proposals were evaluated equally through an open and transparent process. SaskPower will now start preparing for the next competitive process for an additional 10 MW project, which it hopes to launch in early 2019.
SaskPower plans to have 60 megawatts of solar generation by 2021.
