Nova Scotia Power gobbled up one of the province’s independent wind power projects Tuesday.
A proposed $90-million wind energy farm in Colchester County was put up for sale last October after its Calgary developer sought bankruptcy protection. EarthFirst Canada Inc. had announced it was not putting any more money into the wind farm, located at Nuttby Mountain, 20 kilometres north of Truro.
"This project was the one that was most clearly stalled," Robin McAdam, Nova Scotia Power’s vice-president of sustainability, said Tuesday.
"Becoming directly involved as the developer of the Nuttby wind project should allow it to advance, despite the challenges that exist in today’s financial markets."
EarthFirst said it sold the project for $800,000, minus working capital and other adjustments. In fact, Mr. McAdam said Nova Scotia Power will get a cheque for $300,000, as it held a security deposit of $1.125 million in case the project did not proceed.
Last year, EarthFirst signed a 25-year purchase power agreement with Nova Scotia Power for wind-generated electricity. It was one of six agreements for renewable energy resulting from a competitive bidding process and scheduled to be in operation by the end of this year.
The Nuttby Mountain wind project includes land leases and transmission interconnection rights as well as provincial environmental approval. Federal environmental approval, which would take advantage of financial incentives worth million of dollars for renewable energy projects, is underway, Mr. McAdam said.
The provincial government has ordered Nova Scotia Power to buy 10 per cent of its electricity from independent power producers by 2010. Energy Minister Barry Barnet said Tuesday the legislation is supposed to encourage competition in the marketplace and allow independent wind power producers to get a toehold in the province.
"These things weren’t going anywhere quick with the financial meltdown," Mr. Barnet said.
He said the government is looking at amending the regulations and allowing electricity that Nova Scotia Power generates at Nuttby Mountain to be included in its 2010 target for renewable energy.
NDP Leader Darrell Dexter slammed the government for considering changing the rules for Nova Scotia Power and entrenching the utility’s monopoly.
"If the real issue is access to capital, then shouldn’t the government be, if you are committed to a process and policy, then shouldn’t (Mr. Barnet) actually find ways to try to address the question of capital rather than just changing the policy?" Mr. Dexter said.
The Nuttby wind farm would have a capacity of 45 megawatts and would produce enough energy to power about 15,000 homes. The original plan for the wind farm included up to 22 wind turbines but the latest plan has 15 larger turbines, Mr. McAdam said. He said it is "too early to tell" when the project will be up and running.
"The project developers had not made turbine commitments so they didn’t have turbines lined up," he said. "Secondly, there hadn’t been geotechnical investigations done on-site."
Atlantic Wind Power Corp. of Bedford, led by Charles Demond and his team, will stay involved with the project through a service contract with Nova Scotia Power.
Atlantic Wind Power sold the development rights for the Nuttby Mountain project to EarthFirst in February 2008 for $75,000 cash, $374,000 in EarthFirst shares (192,000 shares at $1.95 each) and a small percentage of gross revenue over the life of the project.
Nova Scotia Power’s takeover of the Nuttby Mountain project is subject to the approval of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta next Monday.
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POWER PLAYS
1978: Wreck Cove hydro plant comes online in Cape Breton (220 megawatts).
1981: Nova Scotia Power becomes the first Canadian power company to set up a large-scale commercial wind turbine, at Wreck Cove.
1984: Annapolis tidal plant becomes operational (20 megawatts).
1995: Taylor Lumber Co. of Middle Musquodoboit becomes the first independent sawmill operator to start selling energy from biomass to Nova Scotia Power.
1996: Nova Scotia Power begins buying energy generated from wood byproducts from the Brooklyn Energy co-generation facility.
2002: Nova Scotia Power commissions two wind turbines, in Grand Etang and Little Brook.
2002: Nova Scotia Power selects the Pubnico Point Wind Farm through a request for proposals process.
2004: The Pubnico Point Wind Farm starts generating electricity for the Nova Scotia Power grid (30.6 megawatts).
2004: Nova Scotia Power launches two separate calls for renewable power. Contracts are awarded for wind, biomass and biogas projects.
2007: Provincial government proclaims a renewable energy standard.
2007: Nova Scotia Power announces that Open Hydro of Ireland has become a partner for an in-stream tidal power demonstration project. The pilot project is to be in operation late this year.
2007: Nova Scotia Power announces purchase agreements totalling 246 megawatts of electricity for seven wind projects, including one at Nuttby Mountain.
2008: Nova Scotia Power issues requests for proposals for production of biomass energy and renewable energy.
2009: Nova Scotia Power completes test-burning of wood-based biomass.
Source: Nova Scotia Power
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