Nova Scotia’s ambitious ‘Wind West’ offshore energy plan wins support with conditions

Turbines operate at the Block Island Wind Farm, Dec. 7, 2023, off the coast of Block Island, R.I. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Julia Nikhinson

HALIFAX — Two leading environmental groups are giving a thumbs up to Nova Scotia’s ambitious plan to dramatically expand its fledgling offshore wind energy industry.

But both groups were quick to add caveats.

On Monday, Premier Tim Houston said the province’s plan to license enough offshore wind farms to produce five gigawatts of electricity would be increased eightfold to 40 megawatts, well beyond the 2.4 megawatts Nova Scotia needs. He called on Ottawa to help cover the costs of his new Wind West project, saying the excess electricity could be used to supply 27 per cent of Canada’s total demand.

“Nova Scotia is on the edge of a clean energy breakthrough,” the Progressive Conservative premier said in an online video, adding the province is poised to become an “energy superpower.”

Gretchen Fitzgerald, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said the premier’s bold plan, which includes building transmission lines across the country, represents an exciting opportunity for the province.

“It could be a game-changer for the region and for Canada,” she said in an interview from Ottawa. “But it needs to be done correctly and with consultations.”

Fitzgerald said the Nova Scotia and Canadian governments must focus on securing long-term benefits from the nascent offshore wind industry because they did a poor job on that front when dealing with the offshore oil and gas sector.

“We have to make sure that we are not selling out what is a massive resource for less benefit than communities should have,” Fitzgerald said, adding that Nova Scotia continues to suffer from a high rate of energy poverty. In May of this year, utility affordability expert Roger Colton produced a report showing that 43 per cent of Nova Scotians were struggling to pay their energy bills — the highest proportion in Canada.

While Fitzgerald applauded Houston’s clean energy plan, she criticized what she described as the premier’s populist penchant for taking decisive action before consulting with experts and the public.

“Moving from a couple hundred turbines to thousands in the next decade needs to be done in a staged way so we learn how to do this right,” she said, adding Houston appears to have adopted a “‘move-fast-and-break-things mentality.”

“(That) can lead to unacceptable harm to sensitive ocean life,” she said. “From a community benefits and acceptance point of view, breaking trust can be the biggest barrier to getting to good climate solutions.”

In October 2023, the Public Policy Forum released a study saying Sable Island Bank, an ocean area about 180 kilometres south of Nova Scotia, is among the world’s best locations for wind energy generation.

“It and several other similarly endowed areas off the coast of Atlantic Canada hold the potential to place the region among the leading global hubs of offshore wind-powered energy development,” says the report from the independent non-profit think tank.

It goes on to say that as the world shifts from a dependence on fossil fuels to forms of energy that do not emit climate-changing greenhouse gases, Atlantic Canada is facing “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ... to recover an economic vitality comparable to the Age of Sail — fittingly built again on the power of wind at sea.”

The report says the installation of 15 gigawatts of offshore wind generation would create about 30,000 direct jobs annually.

Despite the hype, the industry must also earn acceptance from Nova Scotia’s fishing industry, which in 2023 contributed $2.5 billion to the province’s economy and employed 19,000 people.

In Halifax, a spokesman for the Ecology Action Centre called on the provincial government to build public trust, especially with coastal communities.

“There really needs to be a priority on stakeholder engagement for all ocean users,” said senior energy co-ordinator Thomas Arnason McNeil.

“We’re going to need to prioritize ecological safeguards and preserve the existing livelihoods that we have. That includes the fishing industry. That’s half the economy in Nova Scotia.”

Still, he said the province’s big push for clean energy is on the right track, especially when it comes to building out its electricity grid to better connect with the rest of the country.

If done right, the payoff would be enormous, Arnason McNeil said.

“We’re talking serious job creation here and a lot of revenue potentially,” he said. “The bottom line is that you have to do this right. (But) the prize at the end of the road is monumental in terms of the benefits.”

A call for bids to build enough offshore turbines to generate five gigawatts of electricity is expected as early as this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press