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megawatts of new renewable projects just in the last year.“ That primarily comprises wind and solar,” Harrison notes.“ While we already have a significant hydro generation capacity right now, unfortunately, that is maxed out.”
The province also utilizes bioenergy from its vast northern forests.“ In the‘ all-of-theabove’ approach, renewables are comprising just over 30 percent of generation capacity in our grid, and likely will remain around that proportion as we go forward,” he explains.
With these solutions already in place, Harrison notes another option for the future.“ With coal already being here, that’ s a power source that makes sense for us now. But going forward, nuclear is being considered.” Saskatchewan is uniquely positioned for nuclear development.“ Around 25 percent of the world’ s uranium comes from Saskatchewan. There are several local companies in the space, including Cameco,
a very well-known global player,” Harrison explains. With at least two more uranium mines in development, the province is positioning itself to become an even bigger player than it already is in that uranium space.
“ While we already add some value to uranium here, we think it makes sense to have more elements of that uranium value chain and nuclear supply chain. This would be up to and including power production, which contributes to energy security,” he continues.“ We’ re keeping an open mind around the specific technology, but I see nuclear comprising a very large majority of our base load power generation here in Saskatchewan, and it is going to be a big part of how we get to a net-zero grid by 2050.”
SaskPower is working through its subsidiary, SaskNuclear, on licensing to deploy the grid-scale GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor( SMR) in Saskatchewan. 34