But it will take a national strategy to expand the grid and attract international investment
Despite having among the world’s longest and windiest coastlines, Canada does not yet have a single offshore turbine either operating or under construction. could be for Atlantic Canada what oil was to Texas or hydro to Quebec, says one policy expert, but it needs the rest of the country to buy in.from ocean wind to millions of homes and revolutionizing the East Coast’s economy will remain a pipe dream unless central Canadians a thousand or more kilometres inland are onboard.
Both levels of government have reason to be taking offshore wind energy seriously. If Canada is to meet its goal to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the Canada Energy Regulator estimates wind power will have to provide about 30 per cent of the total electricity supply, compared to less than six per cent in 2021. Nova Scotia must also get off coal and roughly double its renewable electricity sources to 80 per cent by 2030.
There is certainly a lot of wind for Canada to tap into. Sable Island, about 300 kilometres southeast of Halifax, could accommodate at least 1,000 offshore turbines, each turning out 15 megawatts of power at capacity. Together, that’s 70,000 gigawatt hours of electricity every year, which is enough to supply 6.5 million average Canadian homes, or almost twice the total electricity being annually consumed in Atlantic Canada. There are several other potential sites in the region as well.
Gerry Sheehan, project development manager at SBM Offshore, said the plan is to get the 400-megawatt project up and running as close to 2030 as possible. The long-term answer may be hooking offshore wind into a national grid, but a number of proponents are pitching a shorter-term option: using the electricity locally to produceEverWind Fuels LLC has proposed to build a facility to turn wind farm power into hydrogen and ammonia for Europe at the Strait of Canso, N.S.
Offshore Wind Nova Scotia Wind Energy Canada Peter Nicholson Central Canada SBM Offshore Offshore Turbine Wind Turbines
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