On 19 July, the Pesâkâstêw Solar Project near Weyburn, Saskatchewan was put in operation. The facility is a 10 MW solar farm that will provide clean, renewable energy to the provincial grid. The project is owned by a limited partnership whose members are George Gordon First Nation, Star Blanket Cree Nation, and the independent power producer, Natural Forces. ECC President, Jacob Irving, was pleased to attend the opening.
The development began with public consultations in the Spring of 2019. It proceeded through geotechnical assessment, environmental studies, municipal permitting, to a proposal to the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Environment in June 2020. Construction was completed in early summer of 2022 and the facility was brought on line in July. Those officiating at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were: David Pratt, vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations; Robert Apold, Natural Forces Solar; Rupen Pandya, new CEO and president of SaskPower; Don Morgan, minister responsible for SaskPower; Chief Byron Bitternose of George Gordon First Nation; Chief Michael Starr, Star Blanket Cree Nation; and Guy Lonechild of the First Nations Power Authority.