The Saskatchewan Rural Municipality of Chaplin will be the site of a new wind project, expected to cost $355 million.
SaskPower has announced an agreement with Windlectric Inc., a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. in Oakville, Ont., to build a 177-megawatt wind power facility.
The project will build 77 multi-megawatt wind turbines at the Chaplin site, 200 kilometres west of Regina. The turbines will provide enough electricity to power 70,000 homes.
“When the Algonquin project at Chaplin is brought into service, wind power will make up about 8.5 percent of SaskPower’s total generating capacity, among the highest percentages in the country,” said SaskPower president Robert Watson.
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“Renewable generation options, like wind, play a key role in our plans to meet the province’s increased need for electricity in a sustainable manner.”
As part of the agreement, SaskPower signed a 25-year contract to buy wind power from the facility.
The project is in the same area as the existing 152 megawatts SaskPower Centennial Wind Farm.
Algonquin was selected from 26 project proposals from 15 suppliers who responded to SaskPower’s call in 2009 for major wind projects as part of its Green Options Plan. SaskPower said an external fairness consultant observed and reported on the selection process.
SaskPower said it has also selected another 55 megawatts of wind power under its Green Options Partners Program and is now working on the purchase agreements for those projects.
Algonquin will now secure the environmental approvals necessary to proceed to the construction phase. Construction is expected to begin in 2016, with a planned in-service date of the end of that year.
