$1.6 billion

Sector: Energy

Location: Taskinigup Falls, about 45 kilometres ?southwest of Thompson, Manitoba

Key Players: Hatch, KGS Group (consultants)

Owner: Wuskwatim Power Limited Partnership – ?an equity partnership between Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) and Manitoba Hydro. The Project Development Agreement allows for NCN to own ?up to 33 per cent of the station.

Financing: The $1.6-billion price tag is for a generating station and transmission.

Status: Scheduled for completion in 2011. Current projections show that Manitoba’s domestic demand for new power is not required until 2020, but by advancing the in-service date of Wuskwatim from 2012 to 2011, WPLP is hoping to gain additional export revenues and profits.

Project Details: The Wuskwatim Generating Station is one of the province’s largest construction projects. The 200 MWstation project includes an access road, construction camp, and other infrastructure. On May 17, 2009, concrete placement on the station’s spillway structure began, marking the first of approximately 110,000 cubic metres (m³) of concrete and 7,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel that will be used by the time the project is completed.This is the first time Manitoba Hydro has entered into an equity partnership with a First Nations community on a generating station project.