Electricity generation, distribution top source of 2022 N.S. greenhouse gas emissions: StatsCan

Electricity generation, transmission and distribution was the top source of greenhouse gas emissions in Nova Scotia in 2022, according to Statistics Canada's latest annual accounting of emissions from economic activity.

That industry accounted for 40.5 per cent of emissions in the province.

That's not surprising to Badia Nehme, an energy co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre.

"A majority of our grid is fossil fuels," Nehme said, adding that about a third of power generation comes from coal.

That "happens to be one of the most emitting forms of fossil fuel energy generation you can get," Nehme said.

Coal was used 55 per cent of the time for power generation in 2005, Nova Scotia Power said in a statement, so there has been a decrease since then. 

Nova Scotia Power is required by law to be off coal by 2030. It also needs to produce 80 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by then.

To achieve that, the utility plans to retire two of its eight coal-fired electricity generating units in the winter of 2027-28, followed by two others in 2029-30, according to its 10-year outlook report from June.

One other coal-fired unit will be converted to use natural gas in 2028-29. Meanwhile in 2029-30, three units will be converted to use heavy fuel oil, which a Nova Scotia Power executive has said has comparable emissions to coal. 

Nehme said that plan shows how far behind the province is in its transition to renewable energy.

"As opposed to us trying to phase off oil and gas, we're still trying to phase off coal," she said.

"Oil and gas is not a … sustainable" energy solution.

Nova Scotia Power previously told the provincial utility regulator that the units converted to use heavy fuel oil would not be used as often.

Prior to 2005, the utility would have used up to nearly 90 per cent of the coal-fired units' maximum generating capacity, Nova Scotia Power said in its statement. 

"We have seen these rates reduce to a range of 30 to 50 per cent" because of the Maritime Link — which allows Nova Scotia to import hydroelectricity from Labrador — and new wind resources, the statement said. 

Nova Scotia Power expects those utilization rates to continue to go down leading up to the 2030 deadline. Currently, renewable energy makes up more than 40 per cent of power generation. 

In August, the Utility and Review Board said Nova Scotia Power's plan for greening the grid seems appropriate, but that the timeline is very tight.

Looking at the bigger picture, Nova Scotia has lowered greenhouse gas emissions by about 40 per cent from 2009 to 2022. 

"A lot of that has come from the decreases in the electric power generation industry," said Rebecca Meier, an economist with Statistics Canada. 

Household emissions through things like home heating and vehicle fuels was the second-largest source of emissions in the province.

Statistics Canada's emissions reporting focuses on those that come from economic activity and is separate from Environment and Climate Change Canada's official national greenhouse gas emissions inventory.