Environment Minister and Minister Responsible for SaskPower Dustin Duncan announced on Wednesday a new program that will expand options for SaskPower customer generation.
The Power Generation Partner Program (PGPP) will provide SaskPower with additional sources of electricity, improve the province’s climate change strategy and offer the province’s industrial and resource sectors another option in reducing their environmental footprint.
“This program will help SaskPower achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 by adding up to 105 megawatts of renewable and carbon-neutral electrical generation,” Duncan said.
“This is part of our commitment in Prairie Resilience and is another example of real action on climate change without imposing a harmful carbon tax on the people and the industries in Saskatchewan.”
The PGPP will accept up to 10 megawatts (MW) of renewable generation, like solar, and 25 MW of carbon neutral non-renewable generation, such as flare gas, each year.
Maximum project sizes are now one MW for renewable projects, up from 100 kilowatts, and 5 MW for carbon neutral non-renewable technologies, up from one MW.
The PGPP, which is a two-year-program with an option for three, allows customers to create power generation projects to sell electricity to SaskPower.
“We know there is a rapidly growing interest in customer self-generation and we also know that our oil and gas customers are keenly interested in finding ways to harness flare gas and improve their emissions profiles,” SaskPower president and CEO Mike Marsh said.
“This is the result of extensive consultations with both the solar and oil and gas industries. I thank everyone who participated for helping us ensure this program better reflects the needs of our customers.”
An updated Net Metering program, allowing customers to generate renewable electricity to offset power use, will be announced sometime this year.
“We remain committed to reducing our environmental footprint and this program will help us achieve this goal,” Crescent Point president and CEO Craig Bryksa said.
“We believe the PGPP program will enhance the competitiveness of Saskatchewan projects by enabling new revenue streams while also reducing GHG emissions and ensuring we are making the most of our valuable resources in Saskatchewan.”
Applications are being accepted from Nov. 15- 30 and will be received on an annual basis. PGPP replaces the Small Power Producers and Flare Gas Power Generation programs.
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