Wind is part of living on the prairies. It's also part of SaskPower's renewable energy plan.

On Friday, they announced they've signed a 25-year power-purchase agreement with Potentia Renewables Inc. for a utility-scale wind power project.

Potentia's Golden South Wind Energy Facility will be a 200 megawatt project located south of Assiniboia, 

Consisting of up to 60 wind turbines, the facility will bring SaskPower's total wind power capacity to more than 600 megawatts.

SaskPower Minister Dustin Duncan said, "This new wind energy project further demonstrates our commitment to renewable energy as part of our comprehensive provincial climate change strategy." SaskPower's goal is to reduce their greenhouse gases by 40% before the year 2030.

Jeff Jenner, CEO of Potentia, said, "We look forward to working with SaskPower to deliver additional renewable energy to the Saskatchewan electricity grid while bringing economic benefits associated with the facility to the province, local suppliers, communities, and landowners."

The average price of all 29 bids was $42/MWh, which included the cost of connecting the facility to the grid.

Duncan said we can expect to hear more announcements like this in the near future, with the next competitive process for another utility-scale wind project to get underway in mid-2019.

Duncan also said, "...this is the biggest project to date", and that 200 megawatts seems to be the norm going forward.

The project, which could be in service as early as 2021, is expected to produce enough renewable electricity to power approximately 90,000 homes.

Wind is one of two key elements named as part of Saskatchewan's 'Prairie Resilience' climate change strategy released in December 2017. Solar is the other.