First Nations and SkyPower to benefit from wind project

Having the highest elevations in Saskatchewan, Beardys and Okemasis were approached by SkyPower wanting to test the wind on their land. Permission was granted by Chief Rick Gamble and when the test results came back positive, the planning for a new wind park began.
SkyPower, a Lehman Brothers company and Beardy's and Okemasis First Nations have agreed to develop the land and are naming it the Willow Cree Wind Project.
When completed this project will hopefully generate "green" energy for more than 30,000 homes annually.
This new development is hoped to have many benefits including a possibility of tourism, jobs and job training programs. As well as the expected boost in the economy and finances to be garnered from the partnership in the long term.
"One of the leading reasons for us opting into it, is a source of revenue, we want to start doing as many projects as we can as a First Nation to increase our own source of revenue so we can supplement what we get from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and serve the needs of our people," said Gamble.
Infrastructure is always important to any community and with this deal in the making, Beardys and Okemasis will have an upper hand.
"That (wind park) would enable us to marry those monies with INAC funding for maybe capital projects or administration," said Gamble. "If the amount of power we sell is enough that it garners a fair amount of money for us, it will mean we can do additional things that we can't do now. Maybe housing, maybe roads or maybe just administration whatever the case may be, but certainly it is much needed revenue that we would be able to get and hopefully work with in the future,"
The construction of the wind energy project may start as early as 2010. The plan will develop a 100MW wind park in Big Quill, Sask, and cover approximately 12,000 acres of land. The farmer's with land in the area will not be overly inconvenienced.
"A lot of the farmers... are being compensated by SkyPower for the loss of revenue for the amount of area that they are going to take so there is no problem there," said Gamble.
"In fact the option that the farmers around there have is that if they want to opt into the project they are more then welcome to do that. They would get a share of the revenue as well, if they wanted to establish wind towers on their land adjacent to ours that option is there."
For Beardys and Okemasis this opportunity will not only give them a few aces in future hands but it resonates with something deeper and more spiritual.
The role First Nations people have had for generations as cultural stewards and protectors of the land is being strongly reflected in this partnership.
"It's always been the same thing for our First Nations people, our access to the land, respecting mother earth, respecting what you get from mother earth and the wind, the environment that's all part of the equation and that's how its going to be working, our Elders are always foremost in this area,"
SkyPower is a leading renewable energy developer and Canada's largest, as well as having over 200 wind and solar energy projects in various states of completion and development across Canada and a few U.S. states.
These developments have the potential capacity of 11,000 MW Not to mention the partnerships SkyPower has made with other companies developing wind parks in India and hydro projects in Panama.