Iyuhána Solar, a partnership led by Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (GSI) alongside the Ocean Man First Nation community, has been awarded a contract by regional Canadian utility SaskPower to build and operate a 100MW solar PV facility.
Located in the province of Saskatchewan, GSI said that the site will be one of the ten largest utility-scale solar projects in Canada. SaskPower awarded the partnership a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project, which will see the utility offtake the power produced at the plant for 25 years.
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The Iyuhána Solar partnership consists of independent power producer Saturn Power, the Ocean Man First Nation and GSI. The partnership plans to invest roughly CA$200 million (US$148 million) into the project construction, during which process members of the Ocean Man First Nation community will receive specialised training to maintain the facility. Ocean Man will also have an ownership stake in Iyuhána solar.
Chief Connie Big Eagle of the Ocean Man First Nation said: “We are proud that this project, which is able to generate clean power, will be known as Iyuhána Solar, which, in Nakotah translates to ‘everyone’ or ‘all of us.’ This is derived from our Nakotah belief that everyone and everything is related and therefore we must care for each other.”
Saskatchewan has not been a prominent province in Canada as far as solar PV development goes, but SaskPower said that it intends to support around 3GW of new renewables capacity by 2035, including solar.
Further to the east, the government of Ontario’s Electrification and Energy Transition Panel has published a report, which said that collaboration with First Nations communities will be a key part of the state’s energy transition. Grid developments, renewable energy proposals and the necessary resources for the energy transition often rely on indigenous land and resources, the report said, which necessitates equitable partnerships.
Last year, GSI acquired Saturn Power – its partner in Iyuhána Solar – and its 1.4GW portfolio of solar and battery energy storage assets. The majority of these are in the US, with some in Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada.