The First Nations-owned Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre will soon be the new home of a Saskatchewan energy first. 

The First Nations-owned Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre will soon be able to generate carbon-neutral power using sawmill residuals, or leftover sawdust and wood pieces. Last week, SaskPower and Meadow Lake Tribal Council signed a Power Purchase Agreement for up to eight megawatts of biomass power. 

"It's considered carbon-neutral because you're taking wood that's already been used and using that to generate electricity," said Joel Cherry, SaskPower representative. "The forestry industry, in general, is renewable because you're planting trees to replace the ones that you're cutting down."

Cherry said the new plant will make use of scraps from the local sawmill. 

"Sawdust and chunks of wood that aren't usable, those will be burned to generate power". 

Cherry said the plant is expected to produce enough baseload electricity to power more than 5,000 homes and is expected to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by more than one million tonnes over 25 years, and significantly improve air quality for residents.

There is no timeline yet scheduled for building to begin.