“SaskPower has looked outside the borders of Saskatchewan to find a partner for their latest initiative.
The power authority selected Saturn Power to construct the first utility-solar project in the province. At the earliest, this build, known as the Highfield Solar Project, could be in service as early as the end of 2019.
“It certainly is more expensive than coal or natural gas or wind power,” said Doug Opseth, SaskPower’s Director of Generation Asset Management and Planning, who acknowledged solar power is still a relatively new technology in Saskatchewan.
The two parties have also signed a 20 year power purchase agreement on the ten megawatt project, which will be located in the Rural Municipality of Coulee, east of Swift Current.
Opseth noted the went through the RFP process in search of community where they could “interconnect” the facility in some capacity and one which was receptive of having a project of this nature. That feeling was noted by the COO of Saturn, Ray Roth, who noted his company is keen to expand their business operations out west.
“We’ve done a lot of work in Ontario and we wanted to just stay within Canada,” he said. “We noticed the RFP and were interested in it, because we’re Canadian.”