WATROUS, LANIGAN CHOSEN FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECT

Released on June 3, 2003

The communities of Watrous and Lanigan have been selected to participate in SaskPower's first Community Energy Management Service pilot project. SaskPower will now work with Lanigan and Watrous to finalize business arrangements, prior to the pilot effort getting underway.

Energy efficient lighting, motors and system controls will be installed at community facilities in both centres during the pilot project. These energy efficiency retrofits will help Watrous and Lanigan save energy as well as money, by lowering operating costs. The communities will use the energy savings to pay for the retrofits.

"Watrous and Lanigan will play an important role in helping SaskPower determine options for financing and implementing an energy management service for community facilities," Crown Investments Corporation Minister Maynard Sonntag said. "These two communities were chosen because they best met the criteria for the pilot project."

The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) has supported the pilot project by reviewing its membership and recommending communities that met SaskPower's criteria. SaskPower met with nine short-listed communities and consulted with SUMA before making the final decision.

"Financing retrofits to community facilities through energy consumption savings holds a great deal of promise for communities across Saskatchewan. Because the two communities in this pilot project are sharing findings, Lanigan and Watrous are poised to become leaders in the area of energy efficiency," Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association President Mike Badham said.

"As part of the Green Power Portfolio, this pilot project uses a variety of cutting edge technologies, along with partnerships, to create a "Made in Saskatchewan" approach to dealing with climate change issues," Legislative Secretary to the Premier for Energy Conservation Peter Prebble said.

Depending upon the final business arrangements, auditing of community buildings in Lanigan and Watrous should be complete by mid-summer. Retrofits recommended during the audit could take the remainder of the year to implement. Monitoring of the energy and cost savings will be completed one year after the retrofits are in place.

Based on the outcome of this pilot project, and potential additional pilot projects, SaskPower will consider implementing a permanent Community Energy Management Service. This service would be added to SaskPower's energy performance contracting (EPC) portfolio, which is part of the corporation's Energy Solutions program.

SaskPower is currently considering the next community pilot project, which could include a wider base of facilities and operations within a community or communities, including private businesses.

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For More Information, Contact:

Larry Christie SaskPower Regina Phone: (306)566-3167 Email: lchristie@saskpower.com Cell: (306)536-2886