The federal funding will help Manitoba Hydro to build a 230kV transmission line spanning 46km between Birtle South Station in the municipality of Prairie View and the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border.
Manitoba minister of central services Reg Helwer said: “The Province of Manitoba has one of the cleanest electricity grids in Canada and the world, with over 99% of our electricity generated from clean, renewable sources.
“The Made-in-Manitoba Climate and Green Plan is good not only for Manitoba but for Canada and globally. The Birtle transmission line builds on this plan and our green competitive leadership roles, as it generates new jobs for Manitobans and gives us a clean, green marketing advantage in attracting new investment and promoting our Manitoba brand.”
Upon completion, the project will have the capacity to transmit up to 215MW of renewable hydroelectricity from the Manitoba Hydro power grid to the SaskPower power grid.
The project is expected to improve Manitoba’s interconnection to western Canada’s power distribution grid while supporting Saskatchewan’s efforts to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.
For this project, the Canadian Government is investing more than C$18.7m ($13.9m), while the Government of Manitoba has agreed to contribute more than C$42m ($31.4m), under the Green Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada plan.
