NS Power now expects Ruth Falls dam refurbishment to cost $15M

The Ruth Falls refurbishment project received approval in 2019. (Source: Nova Scotia Power website)

Nova Scotia Power says the refurbishment of a dam in Sheet Harbour – which was originally expected to cost $7.2 million – is now estimated to run up a $15.4-million bill due to environmental permitting and an extended construction timeline.

The utility submitted an authorization to overspend application to the Nova Scotia Energy Board, seeking approval for an extra $8.2 million for the Ruth Falls Main Dam Refurbishment Project. The board originally approved the project in May 2019.

In its written decision Wednesday, the board said it would hold the application in abeyance until the utility gets the Fisheries Act authorization from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

The board says an amendment to the federal Fisheries Act received royal assent in June 2019. The changes required Nova Scotia Power to receive authorization from the DFO for the Ruth Falls project.

“In December 2019, NS Power submitted a review request to DFO for its proposed Ruth Falls main dam refurbishment work,” the decision reads. “In March 2020, the Utility received a response from DFO outlining significant additional work required based on DFO’s conclusion that the proposed activities were likely to harm fish and fish habitat, necessitating an FAA under the new Fisheries Act. In response, NS Power submitted an FAA application to DFO in June 2020.

“The Utility subsequently received four ‘incomplete’ submission letters from DFO between August 2020 and September 2023, each requesting additional information from NS Power. According to NS Power, each letter contained requests and requirements that had not been requested in earlier DFO correspondence. NS Power’s most recent FAA submission was on February 28, 2025.”

The utility told the board the work to obtain the environmental permits from the DFO, the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change, and Transport Canada’s Navigation Protection Program constitute $4.4 million of its $8.2-million request.

The utility said the need to address additional environmental permits extended the construction timeline, which increased project costs by roughly $2 million.

The utility also said the costs related to archaeology and Mi’kmaq engagement added $400,000 to the project.

According to the decision, Nova Scotia Power had a consultant assess the design of Sheet Harbour Hydro System’s water retaining structure in 2015. The report found the Ruth Falls main dam, which contains three generating units with a total capacity of 7.2 MW, required “corrective action.”

The dam, which was built in 1925, has an 8,000-foot power canal and a spillway that stretches 1,190 feet. The refurbishment project is expected to extend to the life of the dam by 50 years.

The Nova Scotia Power website says the upgrades to the dam include:

• building a new steel walkway platform along the length of the dam
• improving the upstream fishway
• resurfacing the concrete spillway surface
• replacing 30 stoplog bays with seven rubber dam sections

The utility’s current project timeline says it will start refurbishment of the dam in July and wrap up next March.

Nova Scotia Power told the board the cost of decommissioning the dam is an estimated $84.5 million.

The board said once the utility receives authorization from the DFO, it can submit an amended authorization to overspend application.

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