Golden South wind energy facility is a 200MW onshore wind farm being developed in the Saskatchewan province of Canada.
Estimated to cost approximately £266m ($325m), the plant will power approximately 90,000 households, when operational.
Potentia Renewables, which is 100% owned by Power Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, was selected as the developer and operator of the project in October 2018.
Ground-breaking marking the start of construction was held in August 2019, with commissioning expected in late-2020.
Project Gallery
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Golden South wind energy facility is a 200MW onshore wind farm being developed in Saskatchewan, Canada. Image courtesy of Potentia Renewables.
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Ground-breaking of the Golden South wind farm was held in August 2019. Image courtesy of Potentia Renewables.
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The 200MW wind energy facility will be equipped with 50 GW4S wind turbines from Goldwind. Image courtesy of Potentia Renewables.
Upon completion, the Golden South wind farm is expected to offset more than 500,000 tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide a year, which is equivalent to offsetting the pollution caused by approximately 100,000 cars.
The onshore wind project is expected to create 220 jobs during the construction phase.
Golden South wind project background
The Golden South wind energy facility is being developed in line with Saskatchewan’s goal to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the province by 40% from the 2005 levels by 2030.
The Saskatchewan government plans to achieve this objective by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants and by developing more number of renewable power generation projects, including wind and solar.
The environmental planning and project review for the Golden South wind farm was carried out in compliance with the wind energy-specific and results-based standards set by the Saskatchewan government.
Golden South wind farm location and site details
The Golden South wind farm is being built near the town of Assiniboia in Saskatchewan, approximately 175km south-west of Regina.
The site hosting the project covers approximately 34,000 acres of leased agricultural land in the Lake of the Rivers and Stonehenge rural municipalities of Saskatchewan.
Turbine details
Golden South wind farm will be equipped with 50 GW4S wind turbines supplied by Goldwind. GW4S is the latest series of permanent magnet direct-drive (PMDD) wind turbines from Goldwind.
Each turbine will have a 155m-diameter rotor and a swept area of 18,772m². The rated capacity of each turbine will be up to 4.2MW.
The GW4S wind turbines are fitted with a permanent magnet synchronous generator operating at 740V rated voltage and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT)-based modular power converter.
The cut-in and cut-out wind speeds of the turbines will be 2.5m/s and 22m/s, respectively. The turbines feature aerodynamic brake system, while hydraulic and mechanical brakes will be used for maintenance purpose.
Each turbine will be mounted on a steel tower with a 100m hub height.
Power transmission from Golden South wind farm
The electricity generated by each turbine will be gathered and evacuated to an onsite collector substation through 34.5kV underground collector lines.
The substation of the wind farm will evacuate power to the Saskatchewan electricity grid.
The Golden South wind energy facility is being developed in line with Saskatchewan’s goal to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the province by 40% from the 2005 levels by 2030.
Power purchase agreement
Potentia signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Golden South wind project with SaskPower in October 2018.
Potentia will supply both energy and environmental credits to SaskPower for a period of 25 years, as part of the PPA.
Infrastructure
The wind project involves the construction of new access roads as well as the upgrade of existing roads for transporting materials during the construction phase and for regular maintenance during operations.
The project site is also being developed with a temporary lay-down area to facilitate construction, apart from an operations and maintenance building.
Contractors involved
Goldwind Americas, a subsidiary of Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind, was contracted for the supply of wind turbines for the Golden South wind energy facility in August 2019.
The contractual scope also involves the long-term maintenance services agreement for the wind farm.