Loop or no Loop, officials say N.S. on track to meet green energy targets

Nova Scotia's deputy minister of natural resources and renewables is confident the province can meet its 2030 target for generating electricity from renewable sources, with or without the Atlantic Loop.

But one opposition MLA isn't so sure the same can be said for the plan to get off coal.

Liberal MLA Iain Rankin, a former provincial environment minister and premier, noted during a meeting Tuesday of the legislature's standing committee on natural resources and economic development that three coal-fired plants are supposed to be closed by now. So far, none are.

"At this point, this late in the game, I don't believe the government will get off coal by 2030," Rankin told reporters following the meeting.

But natural resources and renewables deputy minister Karen Gatien said now that the province is receiving its full share of hydroelectric power from Labrador via the Maritime Link, things are looking promising.

"That's made a huge change for Nova Scotia Power," she told reporters following the meeting. "They can rely on it. We need it to continue for a bit longer to fully benefit the province."

The province has legislated that 80 per cent of the province's power will come from renewables by 2030, and that all coal-fired plants will be phased out by the same year.

The power from the Maritime Link, the subsea cable connecting Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, represents 20 per cent of the province's anticipated electricity mix by the end of 2030.

Gatien said planned expansion of wind projects (and to a lesser degree solar), along with the pursuit of battery storage to provide baseline backup should help get the province the rest of the way.

Gatien said the plan should still allow the province to be off coal for the purposes of generating electricity by 2030, although she said some plants might need to be converted to natural gas until they can use hydrogen or other biofuels.

The comments come as the provincial and federal governments continue to go back and forth on how the Atlantic Loop, a project that would help deliver hydro power from Quebec and Labrador to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, would be financed.

There was a time when it was viewed as the best and most cost-effective way for Nova Scotia to get off coal. Officials here no longer believe that to be the case.

New transmission lines

But even if the Loop does not go ahead in its entirety, Gatien said the plan remains to at least move forward with new transmission lines between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The so-called intertie is estimated to cost about $700 million and would allow for more wind power generation and increased battery storage capacity.

"We would agree with that, that that is a crucial intertie and one that we do need to get going sooner than later," Gatien said in response to a question from Rankin during the meeting.

New Democrat MLA Susan Leblanc told reporters that she's watched with concern as the importance Premier Tim Houston has placed on the Atlantic Loop to meet climate targets has shifted.

The premier suggested recently the Atlantic Loop is too expensive. The federal government has put $4.5 billion on the table, but the province has said the money is a loan that will have to be repaid by Nova Scotia ratepayers.

Leblanc said the premier and his government owe the public a clearly defined plan to outline how and when targets will be met.

"This flip-flopping on the Atlantic Loop — whether you support it or not — it's disconcerting and it doesn't give us confidence in what the government is doing. There may be lots of ways to get to those climate goals, we just need to see them show us the way so we can be confident that we will meet them."

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