SaskPower invests in electrical engineering and carbon capture and storage

News Release Release Date: March 13, 2012 11:15 a.m.

Minister responsible for SaskPower Rob Norris today announced that SaskPower will provide $3.5 million each to the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan to help meet Saskatchewan’s growing need for power with a skilled workforce and innovative technology.

“As the province continues to prosper, we need to invest in the education of our future workforce to make sure we have the skills and expertise to support the changing needs of the power industry,” said Norris. “We also need to invest in new technology to ensure we have a sustainable supply of electricity to power future growth.”

The funding will support new faculty chairs to ensure a strong foundation of academic and applied research is in place to position Saskatchewan as a leader in clean energy development, and will be directed to program areas that align with the company’s future business needs.

The University of Regina funding will go towards advancing research in carbon capture and storage technology as SaskPower continues building the world-leading Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Project. The investment will also provide opportunities for future engineering graduates to work in this emerging field at SaskPower.

Funding at the University of Saskatchewan will go toward the power systems engineering field within the university’s existing electrical engineering program. This program already provides the main source of graduate electrical engineers for SaskPower. The expanded partnership will enable SaskPower to work with the university to ensure the curriculum aligns with SaskPower’s future needs. It will also help to attract more students into the power systems engineering field and advance research in power systems engineering.

“These investments in our province’s universities will further the innovative work taking place on carbon capture and storage in the province, and help ensure the technology evolves so coal can remain as part of SaskPower’s sustainable supply plan” said Robert Watson, SaskPower President and Chief Executive Officer. “They will also ensure SaskPower can meet its ongoing need for qualified engineers with homegrown Saskatchewan talent.”

In the coming months, SaskPower will explore similar post-secondary partnerships with other institutions in Saskatchewan, with a focus on Aboriginal programming.

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