Manitoba Hydro this week announced a pending 20-year agreement to sell electricity to Saskatchewan’s electric utility, SaskPower.
Manitoba Hydro said it anticipates a final agreement in the next few months.
The deal will see at least 100 megawatts of hydroelectricity, equivalent to the electricity required to power 40,000 homes, flow from Manitoba to Saskatchewan beginning in 2020.
The sale will require 18 per cent of the energy generated from the under-construction Keeyask Generating Station on the Nelson River in northern Manitoba.
The deal is the fourth in a series of large electricity sales made possible by the construction of Keeyask, according to the Manitoba government.
The sale to SaskPower is a firm sale that requires Manitoba Hydro have sufficient capacity available at all times and not to interrupt energy deliveries, if at all possible.
For this reason, the Manitoba government said, Manitoba Hydro and SaskPower will need to build a new 80-kilometre, 230,000-volt transmission line in western Manitoba between Birtle and Tantalon, Saskatchewan, to ensure energy deliveries can occur on a firm basis.
