Saskatchewan's largest wind turbine facility officially opens in Assiniboia

Opening of wind turbine facility in Assiniboia WATCH: Tuesday marked the grand opening of the largest wind turbine facility in Saskatchewan. Allison Bamford has more.

Assiniboia, Sask. — Saskatchewan’s largest wind turbine facility marked its grand opening in Assiniboia on Tuesday.

The Golden South Wind Energy Facility, made up of 50 turbines, will provide up to 200 megawatts of emissions-free power to SaskPower’s grid, which is enough energy to power 100,000 homes.

Planning for the project began in 2009 with construction starting in the fall of 2019. Operations began in March 2022.

Assiniboia mayor Sharon Schauenberg remembers driving out of town to see the first turbine erected. Now that the project is complete, she believes the facility will be a tourist destination.

“It has changed our landscape, but for the better, and that’s our future,” Schauenberg said.

The turbines are connected by 75 kilometres of buried cable and are located roughly 900 metres apart.

The turbines can last up to 30 years, according to Potentia. At the end of their life span, the towers will be decommissioned and recycled.

“The blades are made of fibre glass and there’s a lot of work going on to recycling them right now,” Greenhouse said.

“I think in 20 years those would be recyclable as well, but right now they would use the fibre glass for things like road construction.”

Greenhouse said the turbines are “very simple” to take down, leaving just a “bit of concrete under the ground.”

SaskPower has entered a 25-year contract with Pontentia Renewables to purchase the power generated by the turbines.

“All of our generation sources in Saskatchewan feed into the grid and we use it equally,” said Troy King, acting president and CEO of SaskPower.

“When we build our rates and charge customers everyone benefits from the wind power.”

SaskPower has set a target for 2030 to reduce emissions by 50 per cent of 2005 levels. Its goal is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

According to SaskPower, one more wind facility and three solar plants are planned for the near future, including what will be the province’s largest solar facility located near Estevan.

King said the crown corporation should not have a problem reaching its 2030 target. However, its goals for 2050 will be trickier.

“Wind and solar are great intermittent sources of power, they are great sources of energy but they don’t provide you with consistent base load power,” King said.

Don Morgan, the minister responsible for Sask Power, said the province needs to look at a variety of energy sources moving forward, including carbon capture and nuclear energy.

“We need to look at continuing with natural gas. (Small modular reactors) are expensive, but they’re an option,” Morgan said.

“We just have to look at everything that’s potentially there.”

The Golden South project cost $350 million, according to Potentia.

Assiniboia is approximately 175 km southwest of Regina.