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SaskPower has chosen a company to construct and operate what it says will be the province’s largest solar facility to date.
The facility, set to be located in the Estevan area, will be spearheaded by Iyuhána Solar LP — a partnership between Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (GSI), Saturn Power and Ocean Man First Nation.
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“Iyuhána Solar is honoured to be entrusted with this transformative opportunity in Saskatchewan,” said Mazen Turk, director of Iyuhána Solar LP and CEO of GSI, on Monday in a statement.
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“This success is the result of a strong, collaborative partnership with Ocean Man First Nation along with the determination of many team members, helping to ensure that the Iyuhána Solar Project was selected to support changing the landscape of renewable energy in Saskatchewan and Canada for generations to come.”
Iyuhána Solar will permit, finance, construct, own, maintain and operate the facility, and sell the power generated by it to SaskPower through a 25-year power purchase agreement, SaskPower said in a news release.
As a founding partner, Ocean Man First Nation has an ownership stake in Iyuhána Solar, according to GSI in a news release. GSI noted that band members will receive specialized training to maintain solar facilities and employments opportunities with the project.
Iyuhána will also provide scholarships, internships, and direct research projects in clean energy to benefit the community, GSI said, and plans to invest approximately $200 million into the facility.
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The emissions-free facility will have a total generating capacity of 100 megawatts and will produce enough power for the equivalent of approximately 25,000 homes. Construction is set to begin next year with the hopes of “coming online as early as December 2026,” according to SaskPower.
The new facility is an important piece of SaskPower’s path to net-zero by 2050 or sooner, the Crown’s president and CEO Rupen Pandya said.
“We are proud of our ongoing collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and the critical role they are playing in the successful expansion of renewable energy in our province.”
SaskPower plans to add at least 3,000 MW of wind and solar generation by 2035, the Crown noted.
In 2022, it added two wind facilities near Assiniboia and Herbert to the grid for a total of 375 MW of power. A 200 MW facility is currently under construction southeast of Kipling and is expected to be complete by the end of 2024. Plans for 600 MW of new renewable generation in south-central Saskatchewan has also been announced and is expected to operational in 2027.
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