A host of major infrastructure projects are driving the future of southern Saskatchewan forward, and that’s good news for PTI Transformers Inc. of Regina.
The 36-year-old company broke ground last month on a project designed to double the size of its existing facility in Regina, giving it the capacity needed to handle the larger transformers demanded by energy projects across Western Canada.
The new facility will give PTI a dedicated facility for handling the larger transformers needed by the multiple public and private projects in Saskatchewan advancing the province’s shift to clean power.
Currently, about 20 per cent of Saskatchewan’s power needs are generated by hydroelectricity and other renewable sources. The remainder is supplied by coal and natural gas, but the provincial power utility, Saskatchewan Power Corp., is in the process of phasing out coal-fired generating plants while investing
$2 billion in carbon management as well as solar and wind generation projects. It hopes to halve carbon emissions by 2030 (versus 2005 levels) and achieve net-zero power generation by 2050.
The province has eight wind farms in operation, including the Bekevar wind power project near Kipling with a generating capacity of 200 megawatts (MW). Built through a partnership between U.K.-based Innagreen Ltd. and the Cowessess First Nation and commissioned last November, the plant has a 25-year supply agreement with SaskPower.
On May 1, SaskPower announced that Potentia Renewables Inc. would be partnering with Meadow Lake Tribal Council and the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation on a 200 MW wind project near Assiniboia and a 100 MW solar project near Coronach.
“These two projects are major,” said Chris Lane, president and CEO with Economic Development Regina. “They’re a positive step … from a utility perspective but also investment.”
When complete in 2027, they’ll bring SaskPower’s total wind and solar generating capacity to 1,535 MW. The southern wedge of the province is prime country for solar and wind projects, Lane said, and the significant investments taking place represent “a good economic story for the [Highway] 1 corridor.”
The projects benefit both companies like PTI and communities from Estevan to Swift Current.
“Regina is the closest major city, so we stand to benefit from those kinds of investments,” Lane said.
But it’s not just clean energy projects driving activity in the southern half of the province.
The potash sector is also seeing fresh investment. BHP Billiton’s new low-emissions potash mine near Jansen, Saskatchewan, has driven the uptake of commercial space in Saskatoon, but K+S Canada’s significant expansion to its mine outside Regina is benefitting the capital.
Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals Inc. is also expanding its sulphur of potash mine in Chaplin, midway between Moose Jaw and Swift Current. The project is set to come online next year.
“The business climate for that reinvestment is exciting,” Lane said.
Rooted in the province’s natural resources, the potash sector complements the agriculture sector, which benefitted from a rise in commodity prices in 2022.
Saskatchewan is one of the world’s leading producers of grains, oil seeds and pulses, and investment in the province’s farmland has been strong. Saskatchewan cropland led the country in value gains last year, according to Farm Credit Canada.
Canola and peas have been caught in the crossfire of protectionist measures by several countries, however, dampening export prospects and reducing plantings.
China introduced a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian canola and peas in March, in retaliation for duties Canada placed on electric vehicles. While some growers intended to shift acreage into lentils, India continues to levy an 11 per cent tariff on Canada’s shipments of that crop.
Canadian producers’ largest export market, the U.S., also introduced tax measures last year that clipped demand for canola as a feedstock to U.S. biofuel plants.
Cargill is nearing completion on its canola crush plant in Regina, which will process 1 million tonnes annually when it opens later this year, but earlier Federated Co-operatives Ltd. and AGT Foods have suspended their own plans for a $360 million biofuel plant in Regina.
A project by Viterra Canada Inc. that could handle 2.5 million tonnes of canola hangs in the balance pending completion of its acquisition by Bunge, but the scales aren’t tipped in its favour.
Despite the headwinds, the value of a reliable, high-quality food supply means investment in local farmland is set to continue, together with the infrastructure needed to make it profitable.
The first phase of a project at Lake Diefenbaker that could deliver irrigation to 400,000 acres when complete is set to begin in late 2026.
The engineering design work for rehabilitation of the canal between Lake Diefenbaker and the Conquest Reservoir is in progress, work that will initially irrigate 100,000 acres. The project will support 9,500 jobs during the construction phase, according to a study by consulting firm KPMG, and deliver a $5.9 billion boost to the province’s GDP.
“Look at what Alberta’s been able to do around its irrigation project for decades, and the industry that’s sprung up around that that wouldn’t otherwise be there,” Lane says. “I think that’s a great model to look at what could be.”
A boost to crop production will boost the need for handling and potentially processing facilities for both grain and potatoes. But the province has a chronic shortage of serviced industrial land, with investment hampered by high construction costs and caution against over-building by investors.
Recognizing the need to have land ready to go for businesses looking to set up shop, Moose Jaw has brought servicing to the perimeter of a 700-acre agri-industrial park positioned as serving the needs of the pulse sector – whether in manufacturing, processing or research.
SaskPower has located a new generating plant in the park, ensuring power, and the city’s wastewater treatment plant is located adjacent to the park, providing grey water for industrial uses.
While the local pork plant, North 49, is planning a further expansion at its existing facility, Moose Jaw’s acting director of strategic growth, Craig Hemingway, said the city has yet to find a taker for parcels in the agri-industrial park.
Yet the foresight with respect to servicing positions it for success.
“From a development perspective, they took a look at that need for serviced land and they’re doing something about it,” Lane said, anticipating ancillary benefits to Regina. “What’s generally good for Moose Jaw is good for Regina.”
But an equally important need is labour.
Saskatchewan saw steady population growth of 2 per cent over the past year, with home prices up 6 per cent in the latest 12 months and rents rising even faster at 9 per cent.
Yet on any given day, Lane says, Regina alone has 2,000 job openings.
“We need to be constantly making sure that Saskatchewan is on the radar for people who are looking for long-term, good-paying careers,” he said. “The sooner we solve the talent crunch, the more efficient and productive these projects can be.”
