(Photo: obtained from the SaskPower Facebook Page)
Construction of the new Bekevar Yotin Wind Energy Facility north of Moose Mountain Provincial Park is now finished. The wind farm is owned and operated by Bekevar Wind LP, a limited partnership between Innagreen Investments and Awasis Nehiyawewini Energy Development Limited Partnership (a wholly owned Cowesses First Nation entity).
The wind facility will provide up to 200 megawatts (MW) of emissions-free power to the grid, generating the equivalent amount of power needed for up to 100,000 homes.
SaskPower will purchase power generated at the facility though a 25-year agreement.
“We are committed to achieving a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions power system, and we are on track to do so by 2050 or earlier,” said Rupen Pandya, SaskPower President & CEO. “Bekevar, which is Saskatchewan’s largest-ever renewable energy facility with Indigenous ownership, marks another important step toward that ambitious goal.”
SaskPower stated that it plans to add up to 3,000 MW of wind and solar generation by 2035, with 1,000 MW of wind and solar generation currently in various stages of development. For all current and future wind and solar competitions, SaskPower has included a requirement that proposals must have at least 10 per cent Indigenous ownership.
“We are excited to be a part of this important initiative and to see it come to completion. 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 clean energy,” Chief Erica Beaudin of Cowessess First Nation. “Yotin (“wind” in Cree) plays an important role in our cultural ways of being and firmly believe this mighty spirit has many more teachings and blessings to bestow upon us all.”