A project that’s been five years in the making is now reality.
SaskPower announced this week that it is building Saskatchewan’s largest solar farm near Estevan. The Canadian energy company said it’s planning to have the facility completed sometime in the next four years.
“SaskPower’s commitment to reducing its emissions is evident in today’s announcement,” said Troy King, Interim President and CEO at SaskPower. “Expanding our renewable generation portfolio is a critical part to providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective power to Saskatchewan.”
At 100 megawatts, the new facility will be 10 times the capacity of the largest existing solar farm in saskatchewan. The new solar farm will be able to provide electricity to up to 25,000 homes.
To build a system of that magnitude would take at least 640 acres that would feature 323,000 individual solar voltaic panels.
In comparison, Iowa has 11 solar projects currently and only one of them, Wapello Solar in Louisa, Iowa, generates 100 megawatts. When the Estevan plant is operational, it will be the fourth largest solar farm in Canada.
Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig says he’s in favor of it because it brings new jobs to Estevan and is a golden opportunity to put the community on the map.
“We are thankful SaskPower decided to choose Estevan for this large solar project, even though it would have been better in our opinion on SPC land rather than using productive farmland for the solar panels,” Ludwig said. “We are looking at around seven quarters of land for this 100 Megawatt project.”
Ludwig added studies show that southeast Saskatchewan has the most sunlight in the province, another reason this is a good fit. The grid is already in place and that can save a lot of money long term, according to Ludwig. SaskPower echoed Ludwig’s statements.
SaskPower is launching a competition in the coming weeks to find a vendor to build the new wind farm. According to a press release from SaskPower, Estevan was chosen because of its abundance of sunny days, its proximity to a suitable transmission infrastructure and the relatively flat landscape.
Minister of SaskPower Don Morgan, says he’s excited for the new solar facility and that the power company is looking for lots of property.
"It will take up a larger - I don't know in square feet or acres - but it's a significant number. For us to try and be competitive and efficient with solar we need to have large areas that will be covered with solar panels. I'm excited by the project and I think it'll be great to have other options.”
When it becomes operational, the yet unnamed project will send its power into the Saskatchewan power grid. But, some of that electricity could be going to Manitoba and North Dakota.
"Because we're looking for a private partner to provide the capital and to install it, once it's operational it should be something where it has good affordability for rates,” Morgan said. “Both solar and wind are very low operating costs and they're the most effective and efficient ways of doing this and the emissions from them - they're virtually CO2 free.”
It’s unclear how many jobs the new project will create, but Morgan added there will be construction jobs as well as maintenance jobs when the solar farm is up and running.
This is the second major announcement by SaskPower in the past month related to Estevan. In late March the electric utility discusses small modular nuclear reactors and that would be coming to Estevan as well, although that has a much longer time period to develop than the solar farm.
"We want to have as many good options as we can; wind and solar are certainly among them," said Morgan, "The problem with wind and solar is at night or if there's no wind you have no power coming out of them. An SMR or clean coal facility provides reliable base load power that runs continuously 24 hours a day, so that when you turn lights on in your home or turn the heat on or something else that it works instantly and right away.”
SaskPower is also developing several potential non-emitting generation options to achieve its emissions reduction goals including utility-scale battery storage, geothermal, nuclear power from small modular reactors and interconnections with other jurisdictions.
According to a company called Energy Hub, the greatest potential for solar energy lies in the extreme south of the prairie provinces from Calgary, in Alberta, to Estevan, with the next biggest potential for southern Manitoba, including the Brandon area.
Energy Hub also broke down all 10 provinces and their potential for solar power. Saskatchewan leads the list at 1,330 kilowatts per hour, far above the Canadian average of 1,133. A kilowatt hour is described as energy that can power a one-kilowatt appliance for an hour.
In sharp contrast, North Dakota’s potential for solar energy ranks 51st in the United States. Growth projections call for 166 megawatts over the next five years. That is enough solar power installed to generate electricity to 178 homes. Currently, 211 people are employed in the solar sector in North Dakota.
