The 200-megawatt Bekevar wind farm, led by Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, is complete, delivering enough renewable electricity to power approximately 100,000 homes.

The project is a partnership of Innagreen Investments and Awasis Nehiyawewin Energy Development Limited Partnership, a Cowessess First Nation-owned entity that holds a 17% equity stake in the project.

It received C$173 million in investment from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, along with funding from Natural Resources Canada through its Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways program, and debt financing from Hanover, Germany-based Norddeutsche Landesbank.

Local participation has been central to the Cowessess First Nation’s renewable energy work. Community members helped to construct the 800 solar panels for the Community Building Solar Project launched in 2021, which produces 10 megawatts of renewable energy.

That involvement continued with the Bekevar wind project, with youth and children learning how to build a wind turbine, and the Elders signing one of the blades of a wind turbine.

“As Indigenous people, we feel it is our duty to not only invest in clean energy but to place ourselves front and centre as leaders in this transition,” said Chief Erica Beaudin. “Yotin (“wind” in Cree) plays an important role in our cultural ways of being, and we firmly believe this mighty spirit has many more teachings and blessings to bestow upon us all.”