A clean-energy giant has partnered with four First Nations in Saskatchewan for a long-term supply deal with the provincial electricity provider.

Neoen, a renewable energy firm, inked a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SaskPower to provide approximately 228,000 megawatts per year through a new solar power plant. It is expected to be online in 2028.

“When I took over our western Canadian development, I wanted to get into Saskatchewan, and the team agreed it was a good opportunity,” Ryan Dick, Neoen's province director for Alberta and Saskatchewan, told Sustainable Biz Canada in an interview.

What makes this project unique is its ownership structure, he said.

“The Saskatchewan government has strong goals for economic reconciliation and so they partnered with First Nation Power Authority (FNPA) on the last procurement and that incentivized, not only Indigenous equity, but incentivized having quite a few communities involved, as well as really pushing for First Nation labour involved in the construction.”

The ownership structure

The Mino Giizis Solar Energy Facility will be owned 50 per cent by Neoen, and 50 per cent by a coalition of Indigenous groups known as the Anishinabek Power Alliance (APA), which includes four of the Treaty 4 Nations: Zagime Anishinabek Nation, Kinistin Saulteaux First Nation, Cote First Nation and The Key First Nation with participation from the Yorkton Tribal Council, the company said.

“We’ve been working on a partnership with First Nations for about two years, and then two more were brought in,” Dick said.

For Neoen, partnering with First Nations offers many benefits.

“You can’t always have community support, but having early consultation is crucial ... We find that having First Nation partners is going to be not only a great way to be part of the economic reconciliation that’s happening in Canada, but also, we see it as a form of political risk insurance.”

Scale of the project

The project is estimated to supply enough energy to power approximately 30,000 homes. It will be located about 30 minutes southeast of Regina, Dick said.

Once completed, it will be the largest solar facility in Saskatchewan and will provide for 350 construction jobs during peak production, according to Neoen.

Operating in Saskatchewan will provide Neoen an excellent venue for such a facility, according to Dick.

“First and foremost, it’s an excellent solar resource in southern Saskatchewan: it has beautifully flat lands that make for very affordable construction and design of the plant, and as well, we found that the Saskatchewan market has been very streamlined and business-friendly with the permitting.”

However, there are some potential negative headwinds in the province that may damper the future of renewable energy.

“Right now, there is some uncertainty there as to whether they’re going to refurbish some of their coal plants and adopt nuclear and we believe that solar and wind and batteries is going to be the most cost-effective option for them, but we’ll figure that out together,” Dick added.

Neoen's Canadian plans

Neoen was originally a French-owned firm, founded in 2008, but is now owned by Brookfield, which acquired it in early 2025. It operates in 14 countries and produces 8.3 gigawatts of power, as of September 2025, according to its website.

Its “core competencies” include solar and wind power, as well as battery storage, according to Dick. Its Canadian head office is in Toronto, and the firm is actively pursuing other opportunities.

“We signed a 25-year PPA for a large 400-megawatt (MW) battery storage project with the Ontario government, and that’s called the Tara BESS project," Dick said. "Then we have development pipelines in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta."

It already operates the 93 MW Fox Coulee solar farm near Drumheller, Alta., which became operational in June 2024.

Unlike some of the uncertainty from other provinces — such as Alberta which recently overhauled some of its energy production rules — the country’s most populous province offers other exciting possibilities for the firm.

“I find it’s easier to move into markets where there’s TLC: transparency, longevity and certainty in the policy and Ontario has planned for several upcoming tenders ... We bid a lot in their recent LT2 tenders, (Long-Term 2 Energy Supply Request For Proposals) and we’re optimistic that we’ll have several wins there and so we’re very invested in Ontario.”

Challenges and opportunities

However, Neoen cautions other provinces still offer excellent long-term prospects.

“Alberta is still a challenging market with some of the restructured electricity or energy market changes they’re making, but we have hopes that investment signals will return because unfortunately, some of the changes they’ve made have made it impossible to invest in the clean-energy sector,” Dick said.

Overall, there remain some challenges for clean energy providers in Canada, such as transmission capacity, increasingly “significant competition,” as well as tricky legal challenges in negotiations with First Nations and Metis groups. But for Neoen, the country offers many future opportunities.

“We’re excited to be in Canada. We have an excellent development team here, and I think this will only be the beginning of a lot more investment for Neoen in Canada,” he said.