We’re building a new power line to support the Bekevar Wind Facility.
Located north of Moose Mountain Provincial Park, the Bekevar Wind Facility will bring 200 megawatts (MW) of renewable wind energy to the province. Adding this emission-free power to the grid will allow us to power an average of 100,000 Saskatchewan homes.
To bring the power from the wind facility to our customers, we need to build a new 230-kilovolts (kV) single circuit power line. The new line will be 9 kilometres long and will connect the wind facility to our Kennedy Switching Station.
Why We’re Doing It
This wind project will help us make cuts to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It’s part of a fuller plan to ensure we can continue to deliver reliable, sustainable, cost-effective power.Our Progress So Far
We ran an open procurement competition that began in 2019. We chose Bekevar Wind L.P., a partnership between Innagreen Investments and Awasis Nehiyawewini Energy Development Limited Partnership (a wholly-owned Cowessess First Nation entity), to develop the wind generation project. The facility will be located in the rural municipality (RM) of Hazelwood — located north of Moose Mountain Provincial Park. When complete, Bekevar will own and manage the facility, selling us the power produced.
Between August and October 2021, we reached out to stakeholders for feedback.
Thanks to everyone who shared their comments with us. Using your feedback, and our routing considerations, we were able to determine a preferred route for the new power line.
We’ve used feedback from impacted landowners to plan structure placement and line construction, resulting in a preferred power line route marked as a 300-metre wide corridor on the map. This is to allow space for power line structure design. Eventually, it will be reduced to a 40-metre right-of-way.
Construction began in the summer of 2023 and is expected to finish by the end of 2024.
Respecting the Local Environment
We recognize that what we do today impacts our future. As we plan projects we:
- use various tools like databases, satellite imagery and field surveys to understand the environment
- ensure all protection standards are in place
- develop a plan to reduce or avoid impacts to rare and endangered species, habitats, sensitive landscape features or heritage resources
We follow all applicable provincial environment assessment and approval processes.
Benefits to Local Communities
- The new wind facility will add an additional 200 MW of renewable energy to our power system and further reduce GHG emissions.
- The new power line will help bring the power to homes and businesses where it’s needed
