Proposed Nova Scotia wind farms on track, says company, not affected by NSP issues
CBC
Halifax-based Natural Forces Developments will find out next month if it gets conditional environmental approval for two wind farms it wants to build in Nova Scotia.
Last August, the independent power company — in partnership with the province's 13 Mi'kmaw communities — was one of the winning applicants in the province's largest ever program to buy electricity generated by wind.
Its proposal for a wind farm at Benjamins Mill, about 13 kilometres outside of Windsor, N.S., was selected by an independent administrator overseeing the competition. The site would generate up to 150 megawatts of electricity.
"The project is on track, is on schedule, it's on budget. We are due to be online, fully commissioned and commercially operating by [the first quarter] of 2024," said Austen Hughes, vice-president of project finance.
On Jan. 6, Natural Forces added updated information to its environmental assessment [EA] application for a 28-turbine wind farm at Benjamins Mill. Phase 1 involves eight turbines at the site.
On Dec. 22, the company filed an updated EA for another proposed 12-turbine wind farm at Westchester, 17 kilometres outside Oxford in Colchester County. This project is not part of the province's wind procurement award.
Benjamins Mill is one of five winning projects that are expected to generate 372 megawatts or 1,373 gigawatt hours per year of electricity — approximately 12 per cent of Nova Scotia's total energy consumption.
The environmental submissions triggered a regulatory countdown.
In late February, the minister of Environment and Climate Change will decide if the projects get conditional environmental approval.
"We're continuing to work with the rate-based procurement administrator and Nova Scotia Power and from this point forward is just focusing on finalizing the power purchase agreement with the utility and that's the agreement that really allows the project to sell power to NSP," Hughes said.
Wskijnu'k Mtmo'taqnuow Agency Ltd., a corporate body owned by the province's 13 Mi'kmaw communities, is Natural Forces' partner.
WMA's president, Crystal Nicholas, says the goal is to have a power purchase agreement for the Benjamins Mill project this year.
"This is a win-win by providing green energy to Nova Scotia, at a competitive price, while also bringing economic and other benefits to all 13 Mi'kmaw communities in Nova Scotia. We look forward to seeing this project through," Nicholas told CBC News in an emailed statement.
Nova Scotia Power's decision to step back from its own renewable energy project does not affect Natural Forces and the other successful proponents.
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