At the latest Estevan City Council meeting, SaskPower made a surprise visit to discuss some of their latest updates on coal power and other energy concerns in the southeast.
The address featured Rupen Pandya, CEO and President of SaskPower, talking about the energy future for the southeast.
“The Estevan area has and will continue to play an important role in powering our province. As you know, the government of Saskatchewan has directed SaskPower to continue operating approximately 1,500 megawatts of coal-fired generation beyond 2030. That direction also includes using coal-fired generation as a bridge to nuclear power, where our efforts are also focused on the Estevan area as well.”
With coal continuing to be a factor in the southeast, Pandya says they’re looking at ways to keep coal running and improve that power source.
“In response to the government’s direction on coal, we’ve established an internal team to develop and execute the plans that will enable our three coal facilities, Boundary Dam, the Shand Power Station, and Poplar River Stations, to continue running. The team is now assessing the condition of each coal facility to determine the best approach for extending the life of each of those units.”
“Behind the scenes, we’re also starting to gather information from industry experts to help us determine how best to approach the coal life extension work. We’re committed to sharing updates like procurement opportunities related to extending the lives of our coal-fired units as the work progresses.”
SaskPower is also working on its long-term goal of expanding renewables through a number of means, says Pandya.
“We remain committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as directed by the government of Saskatchewan. As we look to the longer term, we’re continuing to work towards the site selection for Canada’s first nuclear power plant in more than 30 years. While the final investment decision hasn’t been made about building the province’s first small modular reactor, there are several years of project development, licensing, and regulatory work required that will position us to be able to move quickly if a decision is made to proceed.”
Work also continues on other renewable energy sources, including solar and wind.
There is no one supply option that can meet all of our province’s needs,” said Pandya, “We continue to work towards modernizing and diversifying our power system with a variety of sources to provide reliable, affordable power for our customers.”
“That includes investments in wind and solar generation, of which there are several projects in development in the Estevan and larger Southeast region. As announced just a few weeks ago, the 100 megawatt Iyuhana solar facility underway west of the city has been rebranded as the Turning Sun solar project.”
I’m aware that reps from Turning Sun are going to be attending the upcoming job fair this Wednesday night at the Royal Canadian Legion to talk about the various employment opportunities associated with that project. They’re estimating that the construction will span up to 18 months, with up to 150 direct employment opportunities available. A total construction is on target to start before the end of the year.”
SaskPower is also working on new ways to distribute that power, with Pandya talking about another big project in the southeast.
“We’re building a new switching station about 15 kilometres southwest of Estevan. It will support several new interconnections, including the Turning Sun solar project and two new transmission lines connected to the existing lines north of Boundary Dam Power Station and the proposed international power line we’re planning at the Southwest Power Pool.”
“For the Southwest Power Pool project, we’ll be building two six-kilometre lines starting at the Saskatchewan North Dakota border, and Basin Electric will build an additional 180 kilometers of lines south of the border in the United States. In March of this year, we received approval from the Ministry of Environment to proceed with the project, and we’re now working through the Canada Energy Regulator process. Once complete, we’ll have increased our shared power line capacity from 150 megawatts to 650 megawatts.”
Pandya also laid out some of their contributions to the southeast, including investments into the Southeast Tech Hub, and support for organizations like United Way Estevan, the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation, and more.
Pandya says he hopes the strong relationship between SaskPower and the southeast corner of the province can continue into the future.
