The Western Lily wind farm in southern Saskatchewan has begun supplying energy to the SaskPower grid.
Located near the town of Greenfell, the project consists of 10 Enercon turbines, which will supply up to 20 MW of electricity – enough to power 8,000 homes, says SaskPower. The facility is owned and operated by Gaia Power Inc.
“This is yet another example of our government’s climate change mitigation efforts,” says Dustin Duncan, SaskPower’s minister. “SaskPower has committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from 2005 levels by 40 percent by 2030, and the Western Lily wind farm coming online represents a positive step in that direction.”
Increasing Saskatchewan’s renewable power capacity is a key aspect of the province’s climate change strategy, Prairie Resilience, which was released in December 2017, notes SaskPower.
“Expanding wind power capacity is an important part of our effort to meet increasing demands for energy while also reducing greenhouse-gas emissions,” says Howard Matthews, SaskPower’s vice president of power production. “Our agreement with Gaia is a sign of things to come as we continue to purchase more renewable power from independent power producers.”
A power purchase agreement with Gaia was signed Feb. 1, 2016, and construction began in June 2018. With the addition of Western Lily, Saskatchewan currently has 241 MW of installed wind power capacity from seven projects, says SaskPower, which is in the process of adding 387 MW of wind power projects at locations near Assiniboia, Herbert and Riverhurst.
