Nova Scotia charges ahead with offshore wind regulator, aims to open bids next year

Nova Scotia is pushing ahead with legislative changes that would allow bids to open for offshore wind projects next year.

The amendments announced Tuesday will see the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board become the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator. Its new mandate will include offshore renewable energy projects and power lines.

Tory Rushton, Nova Scotia’s minister of natural resources and renewables, was bullish Tuesday about the potential for offshore wind, calling it Nova Scotia’s “greatest economic opportunity since the age of sail.”

“We’re working hard to develop our offshore wind industry. It’s going to help us and others reach climate change goals,” Rushton said at a bill briefing.

He said he wants to issue licences for five gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.

Not waiting for Ottawa

The changes to the law governing offshore petroleum were contained in an omnibus bill tabled Tuesday that includes amendments to seven separate acts. One other set of amendments, to the Marine Renewable-energy Act, is another necessary step to allow wind projects to go forward — even if Ottawa’s mirror legislation for offshore wind regulation doesn’t move at the same pace as Nova Scotia’s.

The province had been planning to wait for Ottawa’s Bill C-49 to become law before introducing its own legislation, but Rushton said it’s been progressing too slowly and he doesn’t “want to waste any time.”

Bill C-49, which has already passed through the House of Commons and appeared once before a Senate committee, creates a joint regulatory scheme between Ottawa and both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador for overseeing offshore wind projects.

The bill appeared to hit a roadblock in June when the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs asked the Senate committee for additional time to analyze its implications.

But Rushton said the chief’s interjection had nothing to do with the PC government’s move to sidestep Ottawa’s bill. Conversations with Indigenous groups have been, and will continue to be, part of the process of developing offshore wind, he said.

“I have assurance from First Nations that they’re supportive of the process forward here,” Rushton said.

Changes for tidal power, gas utilities

Other changes included in the omnibus bill will allow existing tidal licences to be split between two or more licence holders.

Kim Doane, Nova Scotia’s executive director of subsurface and offshore energy, said the changes align with recommendations made by a federal task force on tidal energy, which was struck last year after a key player in the industry filed for bankruptcy protection.

Another tidal power developer filed for bankruptcy last week.

“It allows that flexibility for companies that commercially think they want to do one thing, but then later in their processing and planning are able to small up projects to be more realistic,” she told reporters.

Doane said it could also enable smaller projects aimed at research and development.

The bill also amends the Gas Distribution Act to allow gas utilities — namely Eastward Energy, the province’s only gas utility — to apply to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board to recover costs from ratepayers for investments in low-carbon fuels.

Eastward Energy used to be called Heritage Gas, but recently changed its name as it tries to transition away from fossil fuels, in part by blending hydrogen with its natural gas.