A new poll outlines that the majority of Saskatchewan residents are in favour of wind energy.

The poll was commissioned by the Canadian Wind Energy Association, and carried out by Insightrix, a market research company.

Results of the poll show that 84 per cent of residents within the province approve government policies that encourage the development of more wind energy production in Saskatchewan.

The poll also outlined that 78 per cent of people who took the poll said that they would support the development of wind farms near their communities.

SaskPower says that the Centennial Wind Power Facility south of Swift Current was the largest operating wind power facility in the country when it opened in 2006, and is graded as a 150-megawatt facility.

As of August 2018 Saskatchewan houses 143 wind turbines, according to SaskPower.

Dustin Duncan, the Saskatchewan minister of environment, said that wind energy is a key part of the province’s climate change strategy.

"As part of our Prairie Resilience Climate Change Strategy, our government has committed to reduce our emissions from electrical generation by 40 per cent by 2030. Increasing wind energy is an integral part of achieving this goal and I am pleased to see the public support for this commitment. We look forward to realizing the environmental and community benefits of increasing Saskatchewan’s wind energy as new projects come online."

The province announced the next step in their Prairie Resilience plan on Thursday, the Climate Resilience Measurement Framework.

Last September, the Blue Hill Wind Energy Project - a 177-megawatt wind farm - was approved near the town of Herbert, hoping to be constructed in three years’ time.

Construction on that project is slated to begin in 2019.

The development and operation of the project was delegated to the Algonquin Power Company, a result of a procurement competition which yielded 29 bids in contention.