Ottawa announces more than $192 million for Nova Scotia clean energy projects

HALIFAX — Six clean electrical energy projects in Nova Scotia are receiving more than $192 million in federal funding as the province pushes to get off coal by 2030.

Federal Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced the investment on Tuesday at the Halifax headquarters of Nova Scotia Power, the province’s private electric utility.

Wilkinson said $117.6 million will fund three 50-megawatt battery storage systems to be operated by the utility in Bridgewater, N.S., at Spider Lake near Waverly, N.S., and in White Rock, N.S. The funding builds on the $138.2-million loan announced for the battery storage projects by the Canada Infrastructure Bank in February, he added.

Last October, the federal government approved plans by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to phase out coal by 2030. All three governments, Wilkinson said Tuesday, agree that decarbonizing is a “foundational economic and environmental goal.”

“The private sector is increasingly prioritizing access to clean electricity to underpin economic opportunities and economic competitiveness and to seize future growth opportunities,” Wilkinson told reporters.

As part of Tuesday’s announcement, he said three wind farm projects will receive $25 million each from Ottawa’s $4.5-billion Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program. That money will help develop the 33.6-megawatt Benjamin Mill project near Windsor, N.S., the 100-megawatt Higgins Mountain, N.S., project and the 84-megawatt Wedgeport wind farm in the District of Argyle.

Mark Sidebottom, chief clean energy officer for Nova Scotia Power, said the federal support is welcome, as the province has also set a goal of getting 80 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Work is underway on the battery storage projects in Bridgewater and in Spider Lake, Sidebottom said, adding that all three storage projects are expected to be completed and operational in 2026 with at least two of the sites operational by the end of 2025. All three sites are to store energy and release it to the electrical grid when it is needed.

Meanwhile, Wilkinson said he has also held talks with Nova Scotia government officials as the province pushes for federal help in covering fuel debt costs accrued by Nova Scotia Power as a result of the delay in the startup of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador. The situation could result in increased power rates as early as this fall.

“At the end of the day we are all interested in ensuring affordability for Nova Scotia ratepayers and doing so in a manner that is fiscally prudent,” Wilkinson said. The federal government, he added, would likely have a response to Nova Scotia’s request “within the next couple of months.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press