Canadian developer Algonquin Power has pushed back the expected commercial operation date for a 177MW wind farm in Saskatchewan to 2020 after being forced to find a new site.Provincial regulators last fall rejected the company’s first location near Chaplin, which could have impacted sensitive bird areas.With support from utility SaskPower and new guidelines established by the Environment Ministry, Algonquin has selected an alternate site in the Blue Hills area, between Herbert and Neidpath in southwest Saskatchewan.The C$340m Blue Hills project must still undergo the regulatory permitting process.Algonquin has proposed to build up to 79 turbines in two phases with a 35MW first tranche.A 142MW second phase will only go ahead following the successful evaluation of the wind resource at the site.The project holds a 25-year power purchase agreement with SaskPower and was originally slated to start delivering power in 2017.Image: Algonquin
