A Port Hawkesbury Town Councillor wants to make sure rural Nova Scotia reaps the benefits of offshore wind development.
At Tuesday night’s combined committee-of-the-whole and monthly public meeting, Iaian Langley said offshore wind is on the right path with the backing of the provincial and federal governments, but noted that most stakeholders and organizations involved in those projects are from the Halifax Regional Municipality.
The town councillor made the statements following a presentation about the business case and options appraisal for an Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence which was delivered by Martin Thomsen, Manager of Energy Sector Development for the Town of Port Hawkesbury and the Municipality of the County of Richmond, as well as Cameron Martin, economic consulting and advisory with AECOM.
Thomsen said such a facility would have many partners, including public and private agencies, First Nations, municipalities, as well as the provincial and federal governments.
Martin said they looked at other centres across Europe and in the United States and found that they focus on innovation and technological readiness, stakeholder and community co-existence, regulatory challenges, and regional supply chain and workforce development.
A big step in making the centre a reality was stakeholder engagement which included meetings, site visits and workshops, Martin said, noting that during these consultations, stakeholders said there is a need for a unified voice for offshore wind and the economic impacts could be unevent.
As a result, Martin said they identified the major problems as research and innovation constraints, grid integration and transmission challenges, market end-use questions, and international uncertainty.
From that, Martin said they defined the centre’s mission as being an organization to drive growth and transformation by bringing down barriers to unlock the full potential of offshore wind development. He said the centre can serve as an innovation catalyst, a research hub, and a testing validation site. Right now, Martin said they are researching various governance models and examining potential revenue streams such as research services, data subscription, seabed subleases, and workforce training.
Martin said such a centre is very relevant to the Strait of Canso because it is a green energy corridor, it’s close to wind energy, and workforce development is taking place at the NSCC Strait Area Campus.
After Langley said he wants to make sure rural areas of Nova Scotia fully benefit from any developments, Martin said rural areas have many advantages in their proximity to infrastructure and a skilled workforce.
When asked by Town Councillor Blaine MacQuarrie about the opinions of the fishing industry toward offshore wind, Martin said they’ve engaged with ocean users like harvesters, and said it’s vital to make sure these stakeholders have a voice and play a role in how the industry moves forward. He said the fishing industry representatives have remained keen on being involved.
New Deputy Mayor Todd Barrett asked about the possible effects from a pause in offshore wind development in the United States.
While they were initially worried about the impacts, both Thomsen and Martin responded that many projects are now looking to Canada to fill the gap in offshore wind. When asked by Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton what the town can do to prepare in the short and long-term, Thomsen recommended taking stock of their assets.