Nova Scotia Power is spending $28 million to kick-start a stalled wind power project in Point Tupper.
Under the agreement, Renewable Energy Services Ltd. of Lower Sackville will build and operate a wind farm in Richmond County, and Nova Scotia Power will have a 49 per cent stake in it.
"This agreement gives us the financial support we need to move this project ahead and build what will be the biggest wind farm yet in Cape Breton," said Larry LeBlanc, president of Renewable Energy.
The $55-million project is to produce 22.5 megawatts of electricity from 11 turbines to go into service later this year.
Nova Scotia Power and its parent company, Emera Inc., now have ownership stakes in three of the six wind power projects for which the utility signed power-purchase agreements in 2008.
The provincial government ordered Nova Scotia Power to have five per cent of its total electricity purchases generated by independent power producers from renewable sources by the end of 2011. The legislation was supposed to encourage competition in the marketplace and allow independent power producers to get a toehold in the province.
Robin McAdam, a Nova Scotia Power vice-president, said the utility believes the newly configured Renewable Energy wind project will qualify under the rules but it’s looking for approval from the provincial government to make sure.
"We will need clarification on that," he said. "It’s RESL’s project, they’re managing and constructing the project and we are a minority player in it."
Energy Department officials were not available for comment.
Last month, Emera Inc. bought 50 per cent of another financially troubled wind farm, in Digby. Troubled SkyPower Inc. of Toronto had partnered with Scotian WindFields on the project.
Last April, Nova Scotia Power bought developmental rights to a 22-turbine proposal for Nuttby Mountain from bankrupt EarthFirst Canada Inc. of Calgary. The $120-million wind farm, about 20 kilometres north of Truro, is expected to be operational this year.
The announcement that Nova Scotia Power is taking a stake in the troubled Point Tupper project comes a week after it was reported that Renewable Energy Services might have to forfeit $550,000 to the power company for missing its deadline to begin delivering wind-generated electricity to the utility by Nov. 30.
Mr. LeBlanc and Mr. McAdam refused to answer questions Thursday about the $550,000 penalty.
Renewable Energy spokesman Jim Meredith told The Chronicle Herald last week that it’s not fair for Nova Scotia Power to take the money, considering the province gave the utility an extension on its agreement to buy electricity generated from renewable sources. Nova Scotia Power did not pass on that extension to its suppliers, Mr. Meredith said.
This fall, the province added a year to Nova Scotia Power’s deadline for obtaining five per cent of its electricity from renewable sources. The new deadline is Dec. 31, 2011.
In 2008, Nova Scotia Power signed contracts with six independent power producers to buy 247 megawatts of power, enough for 87,000 homes, with an eye to meeting the government’s target of having 25 per cent of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2015.
Of the six contracts, only RMS Energy, which has 34 wind turbines in the Cobequid Range, 25 kilometres west of New Glasgow, began producing electricity on schedule, according to Nova Scotia Power’s website.
Shear Wind Inc. of Bedford has forfeited $500,000 to Nova Scotia Power for failing to meet the delivery date of Nov. 30.
Another wind project, a proposal by Acciona Energy of Spain to build a 20-turbine wind farm on the marsh outside Amherst, also failed to meet the deadline but company officials are refusing to say whether it has forfeited its deposit.
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