‘We’re in the middle of an experiment’: Offshore wind development discussed in Shelburne

SHELBURNE, N.S. — With the Committee for the Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in Nova Scotia poised to release a draft Regional Assessment Report for public review and comment this spring, offshore wind development has been a hot topic for discussion among the fishing industry and community leaders over the past few months.

“The Nova Scotia Fisheries Alliance for Energy Engagement (NSFAEE), a group of about 20 members, has come together to shape input into the regional assessment process to help the fishing industry have a singular voice as they deal with this new industrial player that is coming on the landscape,” said alliance manager Kris Vascotto in a presentation to Shelburne Municipal Council on Jan. 10.

“One of the key premises of this group is we are supportive of offshore wind development. It’s not one of those topics where we can just say no. It’s not the time or place. There’s too much going on in the world. This is an opportunity for us to share the marine space. We have to try and find a way.”

The Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in Nova Scotia was launched in the spring of 2023 by the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia. Last fall the regional assessment committee held a series of public information sessions. Under its terms of reference, the committee has 18 months to complete its work.

Vascotto told councillors the regional assessment committee recognizes what the alliance is trying to do, which has resulted in meaningful conversations with them as well as others including fishers and municipalities.

“Our purpose as the alliance is not to get in the way of those conversations. Our role as the alliance is to help inform some of these multidirectional pieces and try and manage how this development is being undertaken,” Vascotto said.

Vascotto said the regional assessment committee is balancing basic geology, fishing effort, wind potential and conservation values when they come up with potential areas for development.

Once the committee releases its first draft report in March, which will define potential future development areas, stakeholders will then be able to provide more specific input, said Vascotto.

In the middle of an experiment

As it stands, there have been no offshore wind turbine deployments yet in Canada, and very few in the U.S, said Vascotto.

“Most of this work is being done in Asia, which is a very different system, and some deployments in the North Sea. When looking at what the impacts are, most of the work only started in 2007. We’re in the middle of an experiment,” said Vascotto.

Direct impacts would include marine life behavioural changes, turbine mortality, loss of access by fishers/SAR, and the loss of energy transfer from wind to ocean, said Vascotto.

“Windfarms can have changes in the way thermal stratification is happening because there is less energy coming, it causes less turbulence so it gets warmer on the bottom of the ocean. You see changes with oxygenation down at those lower levels.”

Indirectly, windfarms can create marine thermal/productivity change, ecosystem shifts, resource redistribution, and labour/port access.

“Many of these impacts are still being ‘discovered’ by studying deployments,” said Vascotto. “Those offshore pieces are in a highly experimental phase that could hit commercialization…the Global Wind Energy Coalition is looking at 2027.”

Vascotto said one of the challenges is to make sure adequate baseline information is collected beforehand so that when these developments happen stakeholders are able to look at a ‘pre’ and a ‘post’ and start to understand the impact.

Southwest Nova not a likely candidate site

The likelihood of a wind farm happening on an inshore area west of Halifax is pretty low, said Vascotto.

“You have the most important fishery, the most valuable fisheries occurring. The offshore banks become possible candidates but you’re looking at the busiest part of the ocean. Deployments, they are not going to put them in the busiest part of the ocean. They are looking for places that are fallow or unused.”

Regardless of where offshore windfarms are developed it can still have an impact on local fishers who fish in other areas for species such as halibut.

“The impact can be locally on work that is taking place far afield,” said Vascotto.

Following the public information sessions last fall, the Municipality of Shelburne wrote the Regional Assessment Committee, advocating for the committee to embrace the overarching theme of ‘Equity’ as it crafts its recommendations. “Equity demands that every Nova Scotian has the opportunity to share in the rewards of offshore wind development, especially those communities like ours that rely completely on our fisheries to sustain our economies,” it wrote.

Warden Penny Smith said the municipal council greatly appreciated Vascotto’s “enlightening presentation on offshore wind development in Nova Scotia’s waters and the challenges faced in finding a harmonious path forward for both the fisheries and future offshore wind producers.”

“As a council, we share a similar perspective with NSFAEE in supporting offshore wind development, provided that a feasible solution can be devised for the coexistence of these two industries with minimal impact on the fisheries,” Smith said, adding council was particularly encouraged by the constructive collaboration between the NSFAEE and the Federal Regional Assessment Committee thus far.

“Mr. Vascotto’s presentation has left our Council with a sense of hopeful anticipation that both parties are committed to working together to find a mutually beneficial solution.”