Brandt Industries plans to build wind turbines at Saskatoon factory that closed last year

A Regina-based manufacturing company is breathing new life into amanufacturing plant that shut down last year.

On Friday morning, the Brandt Group announced its plans to buy the former Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems facility in Saskatoon.

The 22-acre facility was used to make power turbines but closed its doors last year. At one point, 400 people worked at the plant.

• Mitsubishi confirms it will shut down manufacturing at Saskatoon Hitachi plant
• SaskPower to use wind, solar, geothermal to hit 50% renewable mark by 2030

"When we learned that the Hitachi assets were going be broken up and sold off in spring, we had to act fast or the province would lose a world-class facility and the ability to produce large-scale green energy products," said Brandt president Shaun Semple in a news release.

The company plans to build wind turbines at the plant and sell them to SaskPower. The Crown power company wants to generate half of its electricity through green power by 2030.

"We will be sitting down with the provincial government, the City of Saskatoon and SaskPower to see what can be done to save this valuable asset," said Semple.

"We're just getting started; there is a lot of work still to be done to guarantee a successful outcome."

The company said it has temporarily suspended its expansion plans in Regina, except for Brandt's new engineering centre, which is still under construction.