A lineup of clean energy projects looking to hook up to Nova Scotia’s power grid was given the green light Tuesday, but with conditions by government regulators.
Nova Scotia Power Inc. asked its regulator, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, to step in during the summer and allow seven wind projects to jump the queue in obtaining engineering studies needed for connecting to the power grid. The seven projects had won renewable energy contracts from NSP this spring,
While the regulator approved NSP’s request, the board stated in its decision that it has "concerns" about NSP’s process.
"Based on the evidence before the board, it appears that NSPI was aware of the potential problem during RFP (requests for proposals) process in 2007," the board stated in its nine-page decision. "NSPI chose to seek the board’s ruling to impose a temporary waiver, which has the potential to prejudice some of the projects in the queue."
Other wind developers complained to the board about NSP’s request and lack of consultation with the utility.
The board has directed NSP to meet with all developers no later than Nov. 17, 2008, and report back to the board no later than Dec. 15, 2008.
NSP had complained there was a logjam of requests before the provincial transmission system operator forinterconnection generation studies, which can take months to carry out.
Nova Scotia Power awarded contracts for renewable energy projects this spring in the hope of producing 246 megawatts of new renewable energy by 2010.
The province has mandated a standard of 130 megawatts of renewable energy by 2010.
Twenty-six interconnection requests, amounting to more than 1,390 megawatts, are in the generation interconnection queue, according to Nova Scotia Power.
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Link to latest NSPI Interconnection Request Queue: http://oasis.nspower.ca/documents/GIP_Queue.pdf
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