REGINA -- Chinook Power Station, the province’s newest natural gas-fired power plant, celebrated its grand opening near Swift Current on Friday.
The 353 megawatt facility was completed on time and $75 million under budget, and began providing power to customers in the middle of November.
“Chinook will play a vital role in our province’s future by providing the power needed to support the goals set in Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan,” Dustin Duncan, Minister Responsible for SaskPower, said in a press release.
“The facility will provide highly efficient baseload power, which will support intermittent renewable energy and help SaskPower meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.”
The facility uses combined-cycle gas turbine technology, and generates enough electricity to power 350,000 homes.
“Building this facility required more than two million labour hours, and thanks to the careful work of everyone involved, only one time-lost injury occurred,” Mike Marsh, SaskPower President & CEO, said in a release.
SaskPower is predicting the final cost of the project to be $605 million.
Building the facility created more than 500 jobs during the building process, with 25 employees to run the facility permanently.
