Regina’s renewable energy journey continues with the creation of a SaskPower battery energy storage system in the city’s northwest region.

Construction of the system — the first of its kind in Saskatchewan — is to begin in the summer and continue over the course of one year.

It is part of a series of developments that will help meet SaskPower’s 2030 objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent from 2005 levels .

The system will be a large power box that stores green energy from wind and solar sources and distributes it to residential neighbourhoods. SaskPower estimates it will power up to 20,000 homes over a one-hour period.

“Natural gas is available all the time, as long as the facility’s running, whereas solar and wind are only available when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing,” SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry said. “It’s more susceptible to variations in the amount of output.”

Cherry added that the battery system will allow green energy to power residential homes consistently in a wider variety of environmental conditions.

The project, which will cost approximately $26 million, will be funded by the Government of Canada through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

For more information, visit saskpower.com/projects .

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