Saskatchewan is out with a new call for proposals for 300 megawatts of wind energy capacity.
The province expects the new turbines to go online in late 2023 or 2024, The Canadian Press reports.
Speaking at the Canadian Wind Energy Association conference in Calgary, Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said the province is committed to increasing its renewable energy capacity, even as it opposes the federal floor price on carbon. “He says a natural gas generating plant planned for Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan that’s needed to provide baseload electricity and allow more renewable energy growth remains on hold because of feared high costs from the federal carbon tax on heavy industrial emitters,” CP writes. [This week’s ‘game-changing’ analysis by the Pembina Institute might shift that conclusion—Ed.]
Duncan said the 200-MW Golden South Wind Energy Facility near Assiniboia, the result of Saskatchewan’s last renewable energy procurement, will quadruple the province’s wind capacity when it goes into service in 2021. “Up to about 16% of our generation capacity will be wind, and currently we’re at about 4%,” he said.
By 2030, the province expects wind to account for 50% of its electricity supply.
