Yesterday, a groundbreaking ceremony took place a few kilometres south of Assiniboia to kick off the construction of Saskatchewan's largest wind farm.

Potentia Renewables has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with SaskPower as part of the province's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%. The project is expected to save a minimum of 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the power grid every year.

SaskPower CEO, Mike Marsh says this is a major development in the process of transitioning into renewable energy within the next decade.

"200 megawatts will cover about another 5% of [Saskatchewan's electricity consumption]. We have a little over 225 megawatts [of renewable energy] operating today. With this and the Blue Hills project, there are another 375 megawatts so that'll take us up to over 600. It'll be nice to see another project like this and maybe another one beyond that in the next 4 -5 years. So we're looking forward to continuing on the path to integrating renewables into our grid."

Marsh says that Potentia provided the best price among all the companies bidding on the project and believes this will help keep electricity rates low for everyone. SaskPower's deal with Potentia is to buy every electron that the farm produces, meaning that if it isn't producing then SaskPower won't be paying for anything. 

However, the CEO of Potentia, Jeff Jenner, says Assiniboia is an ideal location for the project and doesn't expect the facility to ever struggle to produce at max capacity.

"The Sequoia team, who became part of the Potentia team had been developing this project for ten years. So we've been measuring the wind here for a very long period of time. We're very confident that the wind exists here and is strong enough to support a great wind farm."

With plans to begin construction this fall, Potentia plans to hire approximately 220 construction personal and local contractors over the next year. Additionally, local suppliers will be providing almost $40 million in equipment and supplies. 

Even though the site covers an area of 38,000 acres, Potentia's vice president of engineering and construction, Ron Diduch, says farmers needn't worry about losing large amounts of cropable land.

"Typically we need to put [each turbine] seven rotor lengths apart (approximately .5 km) so that they don't interfere with and create turbulence with each other. The actual unit itself doesn't take up much room. You're looking at something like 22 meters in diameter. It really just about having the free space. That's why we view the project holistically. All the farmers and landowners are part of it whether there's a turbine on their land or not. They are all part of the project and all get the benefits of it. It doesn't interfere with farming much, you can farm right up to the turbines. It's only the short term inconvenience during construction that presents the challenge."

Diduch hopes to be able to finish construction on the necessary roads and concrete foundations of at least 15 of the 50 turbines before the end of November when the cold is expected to put the project into hiatus. Come spring, however, the turbines will start to arrive in preassembled pieces: eighteen trucks per turbine. Potentia hopes to have the project running commercially by the end fourth quarter of 2020.

As part of its contract, Potentia will be paying local farmers $60 million in provincial sales tax, local property tax, and royalties over the 25 year period. In addition, $100,000 will be donated to local initiatives every year from Potentia's Community Support Fund. 

Diduch says that with the transition from conventional to renewable energy there will indeed be changes to rural economies, pointing out, however, that many of them a both beneficial and respectful.

"We're using pre-existing infrastructure. The lines that we're on go further south and connect to the coal plants. Well, when those coal plants close we'll still be using this infrastructure."

Diduch also believes that the steady income farmers will be receiving from royalties will enable them to explore new ways of growing their businesses: such as planting crops that have higher risk and reward margins. 

With Saskatchewan's commitment to move farther and farther away from conventional power, both SaskPower and Potentia are optimistic about negotiating further clean energy deals.