EDF and Saulteau First Nations Sign 30-Year PPA for 200 MW Taylor South Wind Project in British Columbia

EDF power solutions North America and Saulteau First Nations have announced the signing of a 30-year Electricity Purchase Agreement with BC Hydro for the 200.6 megawatt Taylor South Wind Project, awarded as part of BC Hydro's 2025 Call for Power to help British Columbia meet growing demand for clean electricity. The project represents an overall investment of approximately $650 million, of which more than $150 million will be spent on development and construction activities in the local economy, with the wind farm expected to begin delivering power for 60,000 homes in 2032. The Saulteau First Nations holds a 51 percent economic interest in the equity partnership with EDF power solutions, building on the existing Taylor Wind project awarded an EPA contract in 2025 and demonstrating a deepening First Nations and clean energy developer partnership in the Peace River Region.

 

The Indigenous Partnership Model and Reconciliation Dimension

 

The Saulteau First Nations' 51 percent economic majority stake in Taylor South represents a commercially significant example of Indigenous-led clean energy ownership rather than simply a consultation or benefit-sharing arrangement, providing the First Nation with a majority of the project's long-term revenue stream from a 30-year contracted power purchase agreement. Chief Rudy Paquette of the Saulteau First Nations said the investment will create jobs and economic development while respecting the Treaty and making wise use of natural resources, describing the partnership as proving that reconciliation means creating triple-win solutions that benefit everyone. This framing of the Taylor South partnership as a reconciliation instrument alongside a clean energy and economic development vehicle reflects the growing recognition across Canadian energy policy and Indigenous communities that renewable energy projects represent a meaningful pathway to self-determination and economic sovereignty for First Nations.

Mark Gallagher, Senior Director of Development at EDF power solutions, said the Taylor South award is a testament to the joint efforts and progress made over the last three years of partnership with Saulteau First Nations and reflects the trust built in the community. The three-year relationship history and the progression from the original Taylor Wind project awarded in 2025 to the Taylor South expansion demonstrates that the EDF and Saulteau partnership has developed the mutual trust and commercial track record needed to successfully bid on and win a second major BC Hydro contract, validating the partnership model for future clean energy development in the region. EDF power solutions' position as one of Canada's leading wind energy developers, combined with the Saulteau First Nations' land rights and community relationships in the Peace River Region, creates a partnership with complementary strengths that neither party could replicate independently.

 

Read more: 100x100 Launches $100 Million Fund II to Build 50 Climate Companies Across Southeast Asia and India

 

The BC Hydro Call for Power Context

 

Taylor South is one of four clean energy projects selected by BC Hydro to advance through its 2025 Call for Power, a competitive procurement process designed to expand British Columbia's electricity supply to meet growing demand from electrification of homes, vehicles and businesses. Charlotte Mitha, President and Chief Executive Officer of BC Hydro, said expanding wind generation strengthens and diversifies BC Hydro's power supply while the utility's flexible hydroelectric system ensures reliability when wind conditions change, describing wind and hydro as complementary resources that together will deliver clean, affordable electricity to drive economic growth. The 30-year contract duration provides the revenue certainty needed to justify the $650 million capital investment while locking in a long-term clean power supply for BC Hydro customers at a contractually defined price.

Adrian Dix, BC Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, said clean, affordable electricity is essential to strengthening British Columbia's ability to power itself, grow the economy and attract private-sector investment that creates good jobs, describing the Taylor South project as part of transformative action to build out BC Hydro's system. The Peace River Region's combination of strong wind resources, available Crown Land and existing transmission infrastructure makes it one of the most attractive locations for utility-scale wind development in British Columbia, supporting the viability of the Taylor project family as a multi-project wind development zone. The project's expected creation of over 250 jobs through development, construction and operations provides a direct economic development benefit to local communities alongside the clean energy supply contribution.

 

Explore OneStop ESG Marketplace: Wind Energy

 

Outlook for First Nations Renewable Energy Partnerships in Canada

 

The EDF and Saulteau First Nations partnership on Taylor South reflects a broader evolution in Canadian renewable energy development toward Indigenous majority ownership structures that are increasingly being required or strongly preferred by provincial utilities and federal clean energy programmes as part of reconciliation commitments. Whether the Taylor South model of 51 percent Indigenous economic interest combined with an experienced international developer's technical and financial capabilities can be replicated systematically across the substantial pipeline of renewable energy projects needed to meet Canada's 2035 clean electricity grid target will be an important determinant of both the pace of clean energy development and the quality of Indigenous economic participation in the energy transition. The combination of BC Hydro's contracted offtake, EDF's development expertise and Saulteau's majority ownership creates a commercially robust and politically durable project structure that aligns the interests of all key stakeholders.

Sustained development of the Taylor Wind project family, potentially including further expansions beyond Taylor South, would establish the EDF and Saulteau First Nations partnership as a leading example of how international clean energy developers can build genuinely equitable Indigenous partnerships that deliver commercial returns alongside meaningful reconciliation outcomes. The convergence of British Columbia's growing clean electricity demand, Canada's federal reconciliation commitments, the Peace River Region's renewable energy resource quality and the established EDF and Saulteau partnership track record creates conditions in which further collaborative clean energy development in the region is commercially and politically well supported.

 

Source: BUSINESS WIRE