Nova Scotia approves another wind farm to power green hydrogen plant
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Nova Scotia has approved a third and final wind farm meant to feed EverWind Fuels’ green hydrogen and ammonia production facility.
Last week, Nova Scotia Environment Minister Tim Halman approved the Windy Ridge project, a 49-turbine, 340 megawatt wind farm just north of Debert, N.S.
A spokesperson for EverWind said the company is pleased, and is on track to have its wind farms online by 2026.
Its other two projects, Kmtnuk and Bear Lake, were granted provincial approval late last year.
The company noted the approvals were conditional on further wildlife impact studies and the development of mitigation strategies. The projects will also need construction permits from municipal governments.
Green hydrogen has been labelled as one solution for Canada to meet its net zero goal by 2050. CBC’s Frances Willick finds out if green hydrogen is really better for the environment.
EverWind’s wind farms will connect to Nova Scotia Power’s grid, but that is not the final destination for the energy.
The company plans to build a facility in Point Tupper, N.S., that will use the wind energy to produce green hydrogen and convert it to ammonia for export to Europe.
That plan has drawn criticism from some who believe any renewable energy produced in Nova Scotia should only be used locally until the province has completely transitioned off fossil fuels.
Nancy Frame is among those critics. She’s a member of an advocacy group called Green Nova Scotia First, and she lives in Colchester County, not far from where EverWind plans to build the Windy Ridge project.
Disappointed, not surprised
Frame said she was disappointed but not surprised by the latest provincial approval, given the approval of EverWind’s other proposals and the provincial government’s eagerness to grow the wind industry.
“I do believe in renewable energy, I know we need to get off [fossil fuels], but I feel this project is sacrificing a huge amount of our natural resources for a purpose that is not going to get us off [fossil fuels],” she said in an interview.
EverWind has touted the benefit its wind projects could have for the Nova Scotia grid, including helping the province to decarbonize by contributing its surplus energy to local use.
“I think that could be considered greenwashing,” said Frame.
She said she thinks it’s more likely that EverWind’s projects will disadvantage other wind farms whose energy is destined for local use by competing for labour, land and materials.
Frame and other members of Green Nova Scotia First want the province to create a land-use planning strategy for wind farms before approving more projects.
CBC News asked the provincial government whether it has such a strategy or is working on one, but did not receive a response by deadline.
Frame said she was hoping a promised update to the environmental assessment process would have been complete before Windy Ridge’s approval was granted. That update is in limbo.
