Sign up for the northeastNOW newsletter

SaskPower closes book on 2018, looks forward to 2019

Jan 2, 2019 | 4:00 PM

SaskPower is looking back on 2018 as the calendar turns to 2019.

Spokesperson for SaskPower, Joel Cherry said 2018 was no slouch when it came to working on the province’s power system.

“SaskPower is continuing to invest in our province’s electricity system in 2018,” Cherry told northeastNOW. “Keeping with other recent years, we’ve invested about a billion dollars into improving and expanding our provincial electricity system. We’re trying to make headway in terms of transitioning to renewable, cleaner generation sources.”

Some large projects that contribute investment highlights include the natural gas-fired Chinook Power Station near Swift Current, and the E.B. Campbell Hydroelectric Station near Nipawin. The Chinook Power Station is expected to be ready for fall of 2019, and cost about $680.5 million. The station near Nipawin is getting upgrades that cost about $300 million. Cherry said the work being done will extend the station’s life for another 50 years.

“E.B. Campbell, and hydroelectric power in general is important for us because it provides base load power,” Cherry said. “[This] means, unlike other renewables such as wind, which can only produce power when the wind is blowing, we can have a pretty steady source of electricity from hydroelectric stations such as E.B. Campbell.”

Cherry added further investments are projected for 2019.

“Demand for power in the province continues to grow, and the population continues to grow,” he said. “We’re going to continue to make these investments. We also have some aging infrastructure that we need to address. We’re focusing more and more on renewables going forward, so we want to make sure that we have a power generation mix that increases the amount of renewable, clean energy that we get, as well as base load power that supports that.”

He said the company will continue to work on that in the years to come.