Putting power in motion - Three new NSP turbines being built atop Cumberland County peak

HIGGINS MOUNTAIN — The Nova Scotia government’s recently released targets for producing renewable energy are achievable, but incentives might be needed to make them a reality, says the president of Nova Scotia Power.

Developers, some of whom are under-capitalized, must make an enormous investment, Ralph Tedesco said Tuesday.

"I think it will take a variety of incentives," he said. "Ultimately it becomes a public policy issue."

Mr. Tedesco and others watched Tuesday as workers from Vector Wind Energy erected a 69-metre wind turbine on the flat top of Higgins Mountain, near Westchester Station in Cumberland County.

The turbine is one of three that Vector, an Ottawa company with offices in Upper Tantallon and Regina, is building for Nova Scotia Power on the mountaintop. The project will add 3.6 megawatts of power to Nova Scotia’s electrical system, enough to power more than 1,000 homes.

The three new wind turbines will be added to the 28 that are generating about 42 megawatts of electricity. Nova Scotia Power expects to be generating about 60 megawatts of power from wind turbines by the end of the year.

That will help the company move toward the province’s goal, established in September, of requiring the utility to produce 20 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2013.

While Mr. Tedesco believes the target is attainable, he said any renewable energy sources must be "added in a way that works for Nova Scotians."

So far, "the wind (power) that we have added is actually helping us moderate the price of electricity," he said.

"Most importantly, the prices have been established substantially in the marketplace because we are having developers . . . competitively bidding the price (on the projects). That’s important because it allows the developer to go ahead, it allows us to ensure that Nova Scotians are not paying any more than they need to as we add this valuable resource."

Nova Scotia Power rejects suggestions that it isn’t wind energy-friendly, Mr. Tedesco said.

"We’ve got more than twice the amount of wind power in Nova Scotia than in all of the rest of Atlantic Canada combined," he said. "So we think the path we’ve been on is quite successful. We have large wind farms from Yarmouth to Lingan. These are successful installations that have been bid competitively in a way that works for the developers, works for our customers and works for Nova Scotians."

President Brian Barr of Vector Wind Energy said the capacity exists to build enough wind turbines to meet the province’s renewable energy goal.

"The supply of turbines is not an issue," he said. "New technology is constantly being developed and there are factories being built in the U.S. That will let us meet their market and this one as well."