First Nations signs power pact
REGINA — When reporters asked Dwayne Lasas what drove the creation of the new First Nations Power Authority of Saskatchewan, the vice-chief of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council replied with one word: “jobs”.
He went on to list more things, like the ability of First Nations to have stable revenues and get training for their members, but he kept coming back to that one word: jobs.
He spoke at a news conference Thursday that marked the signing of a 10-year agreement between the authority and SaskPower to clear the way for establishing independent power-generation opportunities for First Nations in the province.
“It’s several hundred million dollars of economic activity over the next 20 years,” said Ben Voss, chair of the authority. “This is a huge opportunity — unlike anything else we’ve ever seen, really, for First Nations.”
Voss said the process to create it grew from of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council and what it’s learned in trying to set up a power-generation facility using waste from its sawmill to produce electricity.
At the same time, SaskPower needs more electrical-capacity and in 2010 had opened the door to partnerships with other organizations — including First Nations.
But as these came in, Voss said SaskPower and First Nations noticed some inefficiencies and duplications.
They concluded they’d have more negotiating power, and more success, if they banded together to create “a single negotiating channel with SaskPower”.
The result is the power authority, then this week’s agreement, which creates guidelines under which it and SaskPower will work together, with an “initial set-aside” of 10 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity reserved for First Nations projects.
There’s also a “fast-tracking” agreement that commits the Crown utility to reply to authority proposals “in a matter of weeks or months, depending on the complexity of the proposal,” Voss said.
“We do have a need for power for the future and if we can find, particularly, hydro facilities and wind facilities in partnership with First Nations, we’re all for it,” said SaskPower CEO Robert Watson.
To help operate and to create proposals, the authority will get $100,000 a year for three years from SaskPower, and $1.39 million from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
“There is no minimizing the importance this agreement will have for First Nation communities,” Voss said. “It will streamline and accelerate major capital projects and bring economic development to areas of our province that need it the most.”
Voss cautioned that electrical power- generation plants “are not get-richquick schemes” and differ from “some resource development projects” that have faced some First Nations with boom-and-bust cycles.
Power projects are built for the long term, typically for as much as 50 years and provide stable revenue, he said, adding, “An independent power project, if properly structured, can serve as a solid pillar that can help sustain a community for decades.”
The next step for the authority, membership in which is voluntary, “will be to go out and sell this concept to Saskatchewan First Nations”.
Watson said SaskPower is already considering several First Nations projects, though he noted the MLTC biomass project is the most advanced.