Nova Scotia to redo wind energy procurement after 4 projects drop out

Developers say they backed out because of market conditions

Nova Scotia Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau says his department is looking to redo a call for new onshore wind farms after four projects backed out of deals struck earlier this year.

The four shelved wind farms were part of a procurement called Green Choice that was meant to meet the energy needs of 11 of the biggest consumers in the province, including the provincial government, universities and private companies.

Green Choice was supposed to add 625 megawatts to the grid by 2028, but the two remaining projects bring the total down to 262 megawatts.

Developers SWEB Development and ABO Energy each pulled two projects.

Sean Fleming with ABO chalked it up to "market conditions," but said the firm is still working on the project and could apply to the next procurement.

"ABO Energy Canada remains committed to our wind projects, with development activity continuing to move forward," he said in an email.

SWEB and its partner Glooscap First Nation said in a statement they dropped out because of "shifts in global supply chains, rising capital costs, and limitations within the current program framework." 

SWEB and Glooscap are still moving ahead with a third project that was selected under Green Choice. They said they've signed a power purchase agreement with Nova Scotia Power to move the Sugar Maple Wind Energy Project forward.

Minister 'focused' on 2030 goals

Boudreau told reporters Wednesday the province is looking for a new procurement administrator to re-open the call for Green Choice projects.

"Once the administrator is up and running, we'll move as quickly as we can to get that procurement started," he said, without offering a concrete timeline.

Green Choice is one of two major renewable energy procurements undertaken by the Progressive Conservative government, with the aim of getting the province off coal and hitting 80 per cent renewable electricity by 2030.

Boudreau said he remains "focused" on those goals.

"With all of those projects, it would have increased our opportunity by a significant amount. This procurement will look at exactly what we need and make sure that we reach that target by 2030," he said.

Province defers participation

Nova Scotia Power has said it needs another 350 megawatts of wind energy to be procured and brought online by the end of the decade, in addition to projects that are already underway.

Boudreau told reporters Wednesday the provincial government will step out of the program as a participant, for now, so the other participants can still get the energy they were expecting.

"It takes a little bit of nimbleness but the Nova Scotia government was the largest customer so what we've said is we'll defer our green energy to the next procurement."

He said the two remaining projects will cover 95 per cent of the other participants' energy needs.