Maine, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island join the New England request
Massachusetts is testing the waters to the north. The Healey administration is spearheading an effort alongside other New England states to tap into work underway in Nova Scotia to advance offshore wind projects there, as the state eyes potential energy supply and economic benefits at home.
Massachusetts is issuing a formal request for information with Nova Scotia to test market interest and feasibility among energy developers, supply chain companies, port entities, organized labor, utilities and the fishing industry. Maine, Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island are also participating.
The request for information, a 12-page document issued Thursday with Nova Scotia, asks those stakeholders to weigh in on how big potential Canadian offshore wind projects should be, what specific type of technology should be deployed, realistic timelines for project completion, and how existing US port capacity and supply-chain infrastructure could be leveraged to bring potential projects to life.
The document also starts to tackle what would be the pressing question of transmission, pondering whether an undersea cable or a new power line is the best mode of getting the wind power into New England. Stakeholders have until the end of the year to respond.
“We need more affordable, reliable energy, and that’s going to take working with our neighbors,” Healey said in a statement. “Massachusetts and Nova Scotia have a strong partnership, and we’re building on that relationship to explore new opportunities to bring offshore wind power to New England. This work has the potential to lower energy costs, strengthen our energy supply and create good-paying jobs in our port communities.”
Nova Scotia appeared ready to launch bids this winter to lease areas off its coast for wind development, though that timeline may be delayed. Even so, Massachusetts is looking to establish itself as a player in the province’s wind development well before any projects get off the ground.
The move is a concrete signal of the state’s seriousness in collaborating with Nova Scotia to boost offshore wind and find a plan B to the now-stalled domestic wind industry on which Massachusetts had been relying, and it is one procedural step on what would be a long road to bringing energy generated by Canadian offshore wind into New England.
Massachusetts is fresh off the completion last month of Vineyard Wind, the country’s largest offshore wind project, and is finally seeing Revolution Wind to its south reach full-scale operations. The state is navigating soaring energy costs, rising power demand and looming clean energy targets, and the Nova Scotia effort sits within Healey’s all-of-the-above approach to energy, in which she has also championed solar, adding more nuclear power and expanding natural gas supply.
The opportunity for Massachusetts could be twofold: the state and its regional neighbors could serve as customers for wind power generated in Canada, and the state could see economic and jobs benefits given the role New Bedford’s port has played in offshore wind construction in the Northeast.
Big questions remain about how much Canadian offshore wind can do to serve Massachusetts electric customers, much less provide a way out of the energy affordability problems any time soon. Even before Trump canceled permits and brought domestic offshore wind to a halt, cost overruns driven by record inflation and supply chain constraints roiled the industry, spooked developers and stalled progress.
Recent energy projects built to deliver power from Canada into New England also leave room for skepticism. A 10-year process kickstarted by Massachusetts under Gov. Charlie Baker to build a hydropower transmission line from Quebec into the region, known as the New England Clean Energy Connect, finally came to an end when power started flowing through the project this past January.
Almost immediately after the line turned on, the region endured a stretch of frigid temperatures during what turned out to be the coldest winter in 20 years. Electricity did not flow into New England on the line for 12 days — arguably when the region needed it most to meet high demand — prompting a legal dispute between Massachusetts utility companies and Hydro Quebec that is now winding its way through court. The line then shut down during another two-week period this past May and June. The transmission line is estimated to supply one-fifth of the state’s energy demand.
The new joint effort with Nova Scotia carries hurdles that could make that project look simple, from financing the wind projects to clearing the extra regulatory steps needed to site them and carry energy across international borders to the long distance the power would travel to reach New England.
The request follows the memorandum of understanding that Healey and Houston signed earlier this year at the State House. Rebecca Tepper, secretary of energy and environmental affairs, told CommonWealth Beacon exclusively last year that she had visited Nova Scotia to meet with Canadian officials on offshore wind.
“If you’re going to start an energy infrastructure project,” Tepper said at the memorandum signing in February, “the best time to do that is today.”