{"id":740709,"date":"2026-06-16T15:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/740709\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:05:11","slug":"first-nations-announce-majority-ownership-of-wind-energy-project-in-saskatchewan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/740709\/","title":{"rendered":"First Nations announce majority ownership of wind energy project in Saskatchewan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Power transmission lines and wind turbines near Pincher Creek, Alta. in June, 2024.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Tina Rasmussen, CEO of Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) Industrial Investments, is excited about the future benefits that will accrue to First Nations from a new wind energy project in Saskatchewan, which was officially announced on June 15 at a celebratory sod turning ceremony.<\/p>\n

The Rose Valley Wind project is comprised of 28 wind turbines. M Squared Renewables, a development corporation owned by the nine Nations of the MLTC, as well as the Mistawasis N\u00eahiyawak First Nation, will hold majority ownership.<\/p>\n

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) reached an agreement to loan more than $160-million for the project, located near the town of Assiniboia in the Rural Municipality of Excel No. 71. Once completed, the 210 MW project will generate enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes in the province.<\/p>\n

The funding was provided to M Squared Renewables and to Petonia Renewables Inc., a Toronto-based company that operates other renewable energy facilities. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the nine Nations of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, this is unlike some of their other businesses,\u201d Rasmussen said. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to find investments that have secure rates of return. Renewable projects, once they\u2019re constructed and barring any issues with construction costs, you can pretty much predict what kind of revenue they\u2019re going to generate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasmussen said that\u2019s a significant bonus for the First Nations to know they\u2019ll have steady revenues for many years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s huge for Nations to be able to plan based on the priorities that they have for their communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How Saskatchewan\u2019s \u2018soft power\u2019 laid the groundwork for Canada to diversify trade<\/a><\/p>\n

Rasmussen was unwilling to disclose expected annual revenues from Rose Valley Wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to say much about that until we actually get to the end of construction,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are a few contingencies and different things that will have impact on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though some work began in April, construction on the project officially began earlier this month. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2027.<\/p>\n

Rasmussen said each First Nation from the MLTC will determine where to spend the revenue that it receives from the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, on other distributions that have been made from the MLTC group of holdings, they have gone to fund youth centres or build houses, build powwow arbours,\u201d she said. \u201cOne Nation did some paving in front of their school. It\u2019s all different. It\u2019s all based on the priorities of the individual Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mistawasis N\u00eahiyawak First Nation Chief Daryl Watson praised the co-operation that resulted in the Rose Valley Wind project getting off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project demonstrates how continued teamwork can help advance truth and reconciliation,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s new Indigenous-run capital markets firms are hitting their stride<\/a><\/p>\n

The funding the CIB is providing for this project is part of a new $3-billion target for Indigenous infrastructure investment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe CIB originally had a target to invest at least $1 billion<\/a> in Indigenous infrastructure,\u201d said Stephanie Aldersley, the CIB\u2019s director of investments on the Indigenous and Northern infrastructure team. \u201cWe have surpassed that goal a couple of years early and set a new target of $3 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rose Valley Wind was selected as part of SaskPower\u2019s 2024 Request for Proposals, a call for additional power in the province.<\/p>\n

Aldersley said the CIB was keen to get involved right from the beginning of that announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe originally were working very closely with SaskPower when they were developing a request for proposals for new renewable and wind power infrastructure in the province,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Opinion: The real fight for Canada\u2019s energy future is being fought at a global scale \u2013 and the clean side is winning<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe supported them through an offering of financing that included both a project loan and an Indigenous equity loan to help reduce the bid prices that developers would put in for their new wind projects, and to ensure that Indigenous communities could also participate by providing certainty of the financing support for Indigenous communities to purchase their equity stakes in these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CIB has provided funding for clean energy projects in British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.<\/p>\n

\u201cClean power is one of the asset classes that CIB invests in for decarbonization and helping to support Canada and the province on its path to net zero,\u201d Aldersley said. \u201cWe do also have a priority to invest in Indigenous infrastructure and enable Indigenous community ownership of large infrastructure projects across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aldersley said the CIB Indigenous equity initiative program \u201cis meant to enable real equity ownership, where communities have a seat at the table, when project decisions are being made and true ownership alongside their developer partners of these projects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Canada Infrastructure Bank retains LNG consultant as it mulls financing for B.C. project<\/a><\/p>\n

MLTC Tribal Chief Jeremy Norman spoke of Rose Valley Wind in glowing terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project will provide clean, renewable power while providing long-term economic benefits for the nine nations of MLTC,\u201d he said. \u201cThrough our partnerships, we are helping build Saskatchewan\u2019s energy future while advancing Indigenous ownership, economic reconciliation and self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides building the wind turbines, the Rose Valley Wind development also includes new and upgraded access roads, as well as underground cabling and a new substation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Power transmission lines and wind turbines near Pincher Creek, Alta. in June, 2024.Jeff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":740710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,1008,66],"class_list":["post-740709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-pleasemod","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=740709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/740710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}