SaskPower, Flying Dust First Nation (FDFN), and Genalta Power (Genalta) recently announced the signing of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a 15-megawatt (MW) flare gas-to-power facility near Coleville, Saskatchewan. The Kopahawakenum Flare to Power Facility (KFP Facility), which represents an anticipated capital investment of $30 million, is expected to open in 2023. Kopahawakenum is the Cree name for “Kicking up the Dust.”

“This new project, which will create some 50 jobs during construction and 20 into operation, will be the largest flare gas-to-power operation in the province, generate power for around 9,000 Saskatchewan homes, and reduce emissions,” Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said. “As a methane capture and commercialization project, it is another example of Saskatchewan’s world-class innovation and another step to achieving our goals under the provincial Methane Action Plan.

Released in January, 2019, the Methane Action Plan (MAP) aims to reduce methane-based gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent, a reduction of between 4 and 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually by 2025. The KFP Facility will require about four million cubic feet of gas per day, resulting in the reduction of approximately 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually.

The PPA was developed through an ongoing partnership between SaskPower and the First Nations Power Authority (FNPA), a not-for-profit organization that works to include Indigenous people in Saskatchewan’s power sector and achieve sustainable economic development and community benefits. SaskPower and the FNPA have signed an agreement to source 20 MW of electricity from power generation projects that use methane from oil production as the fuel source and are led by First Nations communities and businesses.