SaskPower awards major wind and solar projects to Meadow Lake Tribal Council, Mistawasis Nêhiyawak and Potentia partnerships

200 megawatts wind project at Assiniboia, 100 megawatt solar project at Coronach

REGINA – SaskPower awarded two major renewable power projects to Potentia Renewables and its First Nations partners on May 1.

The two projects are a 200 megawatt wind facility to be located east of Assiniboia, and a 100 megawatt solar facility south of Coronach. Two partnerships formed by Potentia Renewables Inc., and its Indigenous partners, Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation, will develop, own, and operate a new wind and a new solar facility in south-central Saskatchewan.

The 200 megawatt Rose Valley Wind Project will be located east of Assiniboia and operate under a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SaskPower. This will be the second wind farm near Assiniboia to be owned and operated by Potentia. The first, the 200 megawatt Golden South Wind Facility, is located to the east and south of Assiniboia. Made up of 50 wind turbines, Golden South began commercial operation in 2022. Nearly all the recent large scale wind projects announced in Saskatchewan in recent years are 200 megawatts in size.

 

This new project is expected to have 28 turbines. All things being equal, to use fewer turbines than the previous project means each turbine for the new project will have to be larger in scale – in this case, capable of a nameplate capacity of 7.1 megawatts each.

The 100 megawatt Southern Springs Solar Project will be located south of Coronach and operate under a 25-year PPA. It would be the second 100 megawatt wind facility planned for Saskatchewan, with the Iyuhána Solar LP project at Estevan expected to start construction this year.

M-Squared (M2) Renewables, a partnership between MLTC and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation will own 51 per cent of each project, Rose Valley and Southern Springs. It is the largest Indigenous ownership to date for projects of this size in the province, according to SaskPower.

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Ben Greenhouse, CEO of Potentia Renewables Inc, said, “Right now the total capital expenditure we expect on the Rose Valley Project is just under $450 million, so not too far off the number you were talking about. And our expectation on the southern spring solar project is just over $185 million for the Southern Springs Solar Project.

 

“In terms of support from the province, it is simply an off-take agreement with the province to sell power.”

Greenhouse noted they only get paid for the power they deliver.

“I think it’s fair to say we have a big soft spot for Saskatchewan, and I’ll tell you why that is. In 2019 to 2021, we built our Golden South Wind Project just south of Assiniboia. While many of us on the team had built similar projects, it was the first project we did as a company.”

He noted the construction took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided several challenges.

 

“We couldn’t stop. We were already halfway in, but we found very quickly how pragmatic solutions oriented and warm the people of Saskatchewan were, and we left that project. We succeeded. We worked very closely at an unprecedented level with the provincial government here, the local government, local businesses, hotels, our contractors, to make sure we did it safely, and we did. We were delayed, which no one was thrilled with, but we did it safely, which is the most important thing. But we left there feeling very, very welcome to Saskatchewan and very happy to be here, and so excited and so happy about it that we flew our entire company out for the ribbon cutting in Assiniboia. We landed here in Regina, and took two busses out for a celebration we had in Assiniboia. And I think many of our team members will tell you, that’s one of the most happy memories they have with us.”

For these new projects he thanked the MLTC, Mistawasis, RMs of Excel and Heart Butte, landowners and communities of Assiniboia and Coronach, Willowbunch and Bengough.

“All of our projects are teams of five to 10 people in small businesses in small communities. And we know that projects like ours and communities like those bring economic impacts across the economy and bring jobs. And while we may not be the biggest employer in the community, we may not be the most economic activity, that activity and those jobs are impactful to those communities, and we look forward to being valued members of your business communities for the next 25 to 30 years.”

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SaskPower Minister

Crown Investments Corporation (and SaskPower) Minister Jeremy Harrison spoke highly of the partnership between Potentia, the Meadow Lake Tribal Council and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation. “The same partnership that has come together through a competitive process, I may add, as well, not selected by me as minister, but through a competitive process adjudicated by SaskPower that has led to this really, really remarkable day.”

 

(You can read Harrison’s entire speech here.)

Harrison spoke about reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, saying, “This is a commitment of our government, and I can tell you as well, it’s a real commitment of me personally. This is part of the reason why I am in public life, and I would say even increasingly so, a reason why I’m still in public life: the importance of economic reconciliation and showing and making that a reality in practice. It was why, at Trade and Export Development, we created the indigenous Investment Finance Corporation, such that First Nations and Metis as well would be able to participate in projects like this, because there really is a structural barrier to participation in projects like this.

“And what it comes down to is it is because of the way the Constitution is structured, it makes it almost impossible for First Nations to actually borrow, and that has to do with how assets are collateralized. So it makes it almost impossible. That’s why we stepped up with the indigenous Investment Finance Corporation, and which has been widely copied across the country, I may say. And I’m glad it has, because that is a mechanism by which First Nation, communities, governments, corporations, can actually participate in the economy. And it was probably far too long in coming. But that being said, we are there now. And you know, this isn’t a specific CFC project, but this is really the end of the sentence. This is how we get to the point of having genuine participation in the economy, which means real economic reconciliation, which means First Nation governments can reinvest those resources back into communities.”

He added, “From SaskPower’s perspective, this really exemplifies our all-of-the-above approach. And you know, there’s been different elements about that have probably got more attention than others, but we are committed to an all-of-the-above approach at SaskPower. And generating power, we’re going to be seeing what is likely 100 per cent, a doubling of power demand over the next 20 years here in this province, which is a good thing. I mean, it shows it’s because the economy is growing and there’s new projects coming online. But it’s a challenge for SaskPower’s perspective, and that we need to find 4,000 more megawatts of power production and generation. How are we going to do that? It’s all-of-the-above. It’s not either/or, it’s how do we do all of these things. So that means, that means renewables, like this project right here, that means coal, that means gas, that means hydro, that means biomass, of which, again, Meadow Lake Tribal Council have been pioneering the way in that space.”

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SaskPower CEO

SaskPower President and CEO Rupen Pandya said, “Together, the 200 megawatt Rose Valley Wind Project and the 100 megawatt Southern Spring Solar Project will generate the equivalent power for about 125,000 Saskatchewan homes. We know that there’s no one generation source that can supply all of our province’s power needs, and that’s why SaskPower has a diverse mix of supply options.”

He added, “The opportunity for Indigenous communities and companies involved to become our partners in producing power is only increasing. We are able to put our commitment to economic reconciliation into action. And I’ll just say a little more on that. Beginning in 2023, SaskPower implemented a procurement goal in all our current and future wind and solar competitions that we’d require a minimum of 10 per cent Indigenous ownership in our eligible proposals, and it gives me great pleasure to announce that that target is surpassed with the Rose Valley Wind and Southern Spring Solar Projects. Together MLTC and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation will own a majority 51 per cent of both facilities, giving him the largest indigenous ownership to date in utility scale renewables in the province’s history. That is a significant accomplishment.”

 

Asked the price of the power, Pandya said the actual price SaskPower will pay for power is commercially confidential, but he explained, “We had nine bids to the wind RFP for south central Saskatchewan. We had 11 bids for the wind and solar bid into south central Saskatchewan. I can tell you that the average cost of energy under the wind bids was $64 per megawatt-hour, and I can tell you that the deal that we’ve just secured is lower than that. And then on the solar front, the average cost of power for the 11 bids was around $90 per megawatt-hour. And again, the winning bids, the consortium here today, this one is below that as well.”

That works out to less than 6.4 cents per kilowatt-hour for the wind project, and less than 9 cents per kilowatt-hour for the solar project. The current rate for retail residential in Saskatchewan is 14.895 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Asked by Pipeline Online if there was any provincial financial backing from the projects, such as a loan guarantee which is the case with the Weyburn Seven Stars project, Harrison said, “No. The Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation – there are no applications to that program. I think the proponents could probably speak to maybe some of the other financing options they’re looking at, but it’s not through the province.”

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Chief of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak

Chief Daryl Watson of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation told Pipeline Online “We have a well-diversified portfolio,” and that one of their companies grosses more than their Dakota Dunes Casino. As a result they’re developing their finances.

“As we look at progressing now on the path of economic renewal and economic revitalization, where you want to be is economic sovereignty, so we don’t have to go beg and borrow from Paul or ask the bank to give us special discounts, things like that. It’s within the organization, within our group of companies, that hopefully, within five or five to 10 years, we should be economically self sufficient people got their own destiny.

 

“We’re also looking at expanding, you know, getting out of the arm of the Indian Act right now. There’s 32 sections that no longer apply to Mistawasis. We’re looking for opportunities. So when it comes to land, land was the first thing that we took back from the government. So we have the ability now to dictate where we want to take our land investments and land opportunities as we speak.”

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Opportunities

Chief Watson said they would like to see the Indian Act gone, calling it too paternalistic. “We are a self-determined First Nation. We’re moving towards self government, eventually down the road. Now we’re just taking bits and pieces of the Indian Act and making our own internal legislation to give us more abilities to consult with government, without having to rely on the Indian Act or the Government of Canada to basically tell us how we conduct business, how we can do business. Now, as we move forward towards independence, in the sense of creating and charging parts of our own destiny, we feel this is where we want to be. So we want to look at, you know, how we can strategically bring our children along. So right now we have an economic plan that involves our children.”

He spoke of helping children determine as early as Grade 9 “exactly where they want to be.”

“(If) they want to be civil engineers, if they want to become managers, they want to be lawyers, then we’re starting to guide them now, so it don’t have to take two or three years to decide where you want to be.”

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MLTC Chief Jeremy Norman

“I was thinking to myself, what is economic reconciliation?” said MLTC Chief Jeremy Norman.

“… just to share, I guess, a little bit of what we as First Nation people go through. You know, I look at my own, some of my own experiences, as a young man, wanting to build on my First Nation. You know, I got a job, and I paid my bills on time. I had excellent credit rating, and thinking about having a family. So, you need a house. You need a home. First thing you know, so I went to the bank, and the first thing the bank (said), well, is an automatic ‘No,’ no matter how good your credit rating is. If you want to build on your First Nation, you’re going to need a ministerial loan guarantee. So you have got to go to the chief and council, you got to get approval for them to back you. And then it’s got to INAC, and INAC’s got it back what the chief and council said.

“Years go on, you know, I got that house. The band supported me. INAC supported me, you know, even though my credit rating was good.

“I go to get into business. There’s a nice resort I want to buy. Well, I’m thinking, well, I’ll use my house as collateral, you know? And everyone else can use their house as collateral. And first thing, no, no, that there’s no value. There’s no value on reserve. So you know what? What Minister Jeremy’s saying, that it’s tough, it’s tough to get into business. You know, it is, and it’s tough to get money, banks to loan money.

 

“You know, you need to get out the Indian Act to do these things.

“You know, when I became chief some years later, and I have an article in my in my office of a band member of the day. Around 1930, where he would sell his cows at midnight. People would wonder why he’s he’s herding his cattle to market at midnight. But it was because First Nation people couldn’t be in business. First Nation people couldn’t really own land, or assets, and it’s a bit sad, but you know, when our system of the day wouldn’t even allow us to have legal representative. And you know things have come a long way. And I’m, I’m thankful that we’re, we’re given this opportunity,” Norman said.

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Weyburn Wind controversy

In a related matter, The morning of Wednesday, May 7, the RM of Weyburn will be considering a bylaw amendment necessary to let another First Nations-affiliated wind project, then Seven Stars Energy Project to proceed. Enbridge is the lead proponent as part of Seven Stars.

That proposed bylaw amendment, if passed, will allow for that project’s planned ~180 metre turbines, removing a current 45 metre height restriction for wind turbines within the RM. According to the previous RM of Weyburn reeve, that restriction was inadvertently brought in back in 2013 when the RM adopted numerous bylaws used by the RM of Corman Park.

The Seven Stars project is anticipated to cost more than $500 million. But Enbridge has said that if the bylaw is not amended, the project would not go ahead.

Pipeline Online asked Harrison on May 1 if the province wanted the Weyburn project to go ahead. Harrison replied, “I’ve been pretty clear. I think you well know that I’ve communicated directly with the RMs in question on a number of occasions. The province is supportive of this project going forward. The province is very supportive. I announced the project initially with our provincial support for the project when I was Minister of Trade and Export Development. I want to see this go forward. I think it’s in the provincial interest that it goes forward. And I think, frankly, it’s in the interest of the local communities it goes forward.”

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Assiniboia farmer complaints

The day before the May 1 announcement, a farmer who lives about a mile from the existing Golden South Wind Facility near Assiniboia called Pipeline Online and spoke for an hour of his complaints and concerns with that facility. His issues included constant noise, even a mile away, which he found intolerable. He complained of the red lights blinking all night across the 50 turbines, and he felt the height of the turbines made them eyesores. Similar concerns have been raised by opponents to the Weyburn project.

Asked by Pipeline Online about these concerns as well as setbacks, Potentia’s Greenhouse said, “I read your article this morning about Weyburn, so I’m somewhat aware of it, but obviously you’re more aware.

 

“So we have already been working to a certain extent with the RM government, the councils and the mayors in the RM. Right now, we don’t know of any bylaws like that that would restrict the project. But obviously, there’s a lot of work to do to get the building permits, to finalize the machines, to finalize locations.

“In terms of the complaints, you know, we take complaints very seriously. I will say that since Golden South, we have not, not since that one, but just as we’ve developed since Golden South, we’ve adopted a Canadian technology called techno strobe that dims our lights when the visibility is good enough to allow them to be dimmer. So that’s something we’re working on fixing. In terms of noise, I did check we haven’t had any official noise complaints at Golden South, so I asked him to reach out to us. But of course, we recognize that these are changes in the landscape, changes for people who live there, and that they’re not everyone will be as happy as others.”

On setbacks from residents, Greenhouse said, “We can come back to you with some more detail. Again, we’re still finishing the layout. As you as I’m sure you know we have many different things we need to take into account, both in terms of environmental setbacks, sound levels, wind, wind waking, and wind interference. So it there’s no one minimum beyond the provincial minimum, but, typically, we find we’ve asked to exceed those for all those other reasons.”

Greenhouse said when Golden South was built, “We had about 40 per cent local labour participation, which wasn’t high enough.” He noted it was built during the pandemic, and there hadn’t been a wind farm built in Saskatchewan for a while at that time.

“Luckily for us, from both economic point of view and from a community spirit point of view, it’s better for us to hire local so that’s something we fully intend to do, and I think we can do better than that, 40 per cent this time.”

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• 0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
  0053 Kingston Midstream Westspur Alameda Click Before You Dig
• 0092 Turnbull projects big and small
  0092 Turnbull projects big and small
• 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
  0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
• 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
  0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
• 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
  0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
• 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
  0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
• 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
  0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
• 0076 Latus only
  0076 Latus only
• 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
  0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
• 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
  0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
• 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
  0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
• 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
  0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
• 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
  0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
• 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
• 0022 Grimes winter hiring
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• 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
• 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
• 0006 JK Junior
• 0002 gilliss casing services
  0002 gilliss casing services
• 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
  9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
• 9001