SaskPower, a Canadian utility firm has announced that it is seeking proposals for a 10MW solar project in the province of Saskatchewan in Canada. The request for qualification (RFQ) phase secured 22 applications from 13 backers pre-qualified to submit proposals during the request for proposal (RFP) phase.
The firm has yet to decide on the location of the project and had requested developers to suggest a location for each application submitted into the RFQ, for which SaskPower conducted an environmental pre-screening for each site.
Dustin Duncan, Minister Responsible for SaskPower, said: “Increasing Saskatchewan’s renewable power capacity is a key aspect of Prairie Resilience, our province’s climate change strategy.”
“Adding another 10 megawatts of solar power will help us meet growing demand for electricity while continuing to move toward SaskPower’s goal of reducing carbon emissions 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.”
According to a statement from the company, developers will have till mid-October 2019 to submit proposals into the RFP for evaluation, after which the company will review and evaluate all proposals through an open, fair and transparent process. The successful party will be declared beginning of 2020, and the project is expected to be in-service as early as December 2021, the company stated.
Commenting on the project, Mike Marsh, President and CEO of SaskPower said: “This is the next step toward fulfilling SaskPower’s commitment to add 60 MW of solar power to the provincial electricity grid by 2021.”
Saskatchewan’s first utility scale solar project was completed by SaskPower in June 2018 and is expected to be operational by the end of 2020.
