Firm inks deals for Cumberland wind farm

By CLARE MELLOR Staff Reporter
Sat, May 28 - 4:54 AM

Halifax-based Shear Wind Inc. has secured enough privately owned land for a proposed wind farm near Parrsboro, Cumberland County.

The company recently signed lease agreements with 10 to 12 landowners in the area, said Mike Magnus, president and CEO of Shear Wind.

"It will end up being between 6,000 and 8,000 acres," Magnus said Friday.

The wind farm would be located behind Harrison Settlement on Canaan Mountain.

The company intends to sell energy to Nova Scotia Power but is also investigating the possibility of shipping power out of the province to other markets.

"We are hoping for the opportunity to participate in a domestic (request for proposals) and then also be able to investigate a similar-size wind farm, or larger, to export out of Nova Scotia."

The first phase of the wind farm would be for about 50 megawatts and would cost between $125 million and $130 million to build, Magnus said, and the project could expand to generate as much as 150 megawatts.

Shear Wind, which trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (SWX), recently completed the first phase of the Glen Dhu wind farm, a 62.1-megawatt facility located between Pictou and Antigonish counties.

"The topography (near Parrsboro) is very similar to our Glen Dhu site. It has got elevations of anywhere between 240 to 290 metres," Magnus said.

The company has applied to Nova Scotia Power for transmission access and plans to immediately put up a couple of wind measurement towers on the mountain.

"We think that there is wind up there. We will validate that over the next couple of months, and then from the wind towers, we will be able to determine what technology best works on that particular site."

Magnus said there is a lot about the Canaan Mountain site that is attractive.

"What you need is a significant amount of scale to make the economics work right. . . . What we like here is that we have a very strong transmission system to get us to the main spine line out of the province. Those are all important components of building any type of wind farm."

Some community opposition exists to the Glen Dhu wind farm because of noise levels and environmental factors.

Magnus said the Canaan Mountain site is far removed from any homes, and is also far enough away from blueberry farms that it won’t interfere with operations.

Some of the landowners involved in the lease agreements are blueberry farmers who have unused acreage, he said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1245625.html

Wind farm proposed for Victoria County

Project would be biggest in province
By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Fri, May 13 - 4:54 AM

A consortium of Nova Scotia and U.S. companies wants to build a $2- to $3.5-billion wind farm and transmission system in the Cape Breton Highlands.

Highland Power Co. Inc. of Sydney is proposing a 100- to 300- megawatt wind project in Victoria County with a transmission line to other parts of Nova Scotia and New England.

"It’s a very large project. We’d be looking at several years of development," Jeff MacKinnon, a director of Highland Power, said Thursday.

The venture could be twice as large as any existing wind farm in the province. The biggest is Shear Wind Inc.’s Glen Dhu project in Antigonish County. Completed in March, it has 27 turbines generating 62 megawatts of electricity, enough energy to power 18,000 homes.

The Highland Power wind farm would be built on Highland Road, a forested area that is not residential and has been clear cut, MacKinnon said.

The consortium includes U.S. companies Starwood Energy Capital and Charles River Associates, Northern Innovations, a Nova Scotia holding company; the Eskasoni First Nation, RMSenergy Ltd., which owns the Dalhousie Mountain wind project; and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which is opening a wind turbine plant in Trenton.

The consortium was incorporated in Nova Scotia on March 25. Its president is Peter Knollenberg, a West Palm Beach, Fla., businessman and shipwreck explorer. Sydney businessman Jim Kehoe is also a director, according to the provincial Registry of Joint Stock Companies.

Kehoe couldn’t be reached Thursday for comment.

MacKinnon, who says he was a fisherman and part of a treasure-hunting venture before getting into alternative energy, said the project is in the "very, very preliminary" stages. The earliest construction could start would be 2013 or 2014, he said.

"All I’m doing right now is laying out the groundwork to gauge the level of interest in a project like this," he said in an interview from Sydney.

MacKinnon said consortium officials have met with the provincial Energy Department and Nova Scotia Power to talk about their plans.

He said the group will be making a proposal to the province when the government issues a call this spring for expressions of interest in developing a 130-megawatt wind farm.

In a letter last week to Victoria County council, Highland Power says the project’s first phase would generate 100 to 200 megawatts of electricity.

Bruce Morrison, warden of Victory County, said the municipality is interested in the project, which could create lots of jobs in the area.

"I’m certainly open in having those discussions and I know council is as well."

Morrison said the wind farm site is almost 20 kilometres from Baddeck on a road that runs from the top of Hunters Mountain to Wreck Cove, where Nova Scotia Power has a generating station.

The warden said the municipality would have to develop a bylaw to allow the project. That process would involve public consultation, he said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1243156.html

Wind breaks N.S. power generation record

By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Fri, May 6 - 4:54 AM

At least our cold, wet spring weather is good for generating green energy.

Nova Scotia Power Inc. announced this week that there were two days last month when 20 per cent of the province’s electricity came from wind power.

"It’s the most that we’ve ever gotten from wind in the history of the province," Rob Bennett, president of Nova Scotia Power, said in an interview earlier this week.

"That’s a fantastic result compared to where we were just a few short years ago, where only a small percentage was coming from wind, so we’ve made great strides."

On April 24 at midnight, wind farms generated 250 megawatts of power, surpassing the previous record of 235 megawatts set on April 14 at 8 a.m.

On an average day, five to 10 per cent of power comes from wind, Nova Scotia Power says. The amount varies based on such factors as demand for electricity, time of year and time of day.

Bennett said the record-breaking 20 per cent figure was possible because it was windy throughout the province at the same time.

"The wind farms are spread out. Sometimes it’s windy in one area and not in the other," he said.

Seven wind farms, with a total of 119 turbines, have been added to the grid since December 2009. They are owned by Nova Scotia Power and private producers.

The Dexter government has mandated that 25 per cent of electricity be generated by renewable sources by 2015, increasing to 40 per cent by 2020.

Coal generated 65 per cent of the province’s power last year, down from 80 per cent in 2006, Bennett told the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Halifax on Wednesday.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1241902.html

NSP defends bid for 9% rate increase

Utility had record profit in 2010
By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Thu, May 5 - 4:54 AM

Power rate hikes next year are justified despite a record profit in 2010, says the president of Nova Scotia Power Inc.

Rob Bennett defended the utility’s plan to seek an average nine per cent rate hike this year at the same time it’s recorded an 11 per cent increase in earnings last year.

"Nobody likes a rate increase; I don’t like rate increases," Bennett told reporters after the company’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday in Halifax.

"But the fact is, costs are going up, particularly with the fuels that we use to make electricity."

Nova Scotia Power’s net earnings last year were $121 million, up from $109 million in 2009.

The utility told shareholders the increase was due to lower income taxes on renewable energy projects and an increase in the expected benefit from accelerated tax deductions. The tax savings were offset by higher operating, maintenance and general expenses related to pension and storm costs.

Nova Scotia Power didn’t have to ask for a rate hike last year because of the tax credits for renewable energy projects, Bennett said.

Emera Inc., owner of Nova Scotia Power and other utilities, had record earnings of $191 million in 2010, an 8.5 per cent improvement from the previous year. The utility earned $176 million in 2010.

Earnings per share were a record $1.68, compared to $1.56 in 2009.

Emera president Chris Huskilson called 2010 "a tremendous year."

"It’s been a year we’re all very proud of," he told an audience of about 250.

Besides record earnings and share prices in 2010, Emera signed a deal with Nalcor Energy to develop the Lower Churchill Falls hydroelectric project in Newfoundland and Labrador, and continued to add to its holdings in the Caribbean, New England and Atlantic Canada, Huskilson said.

"Our success has been the result of six years of solid progress and hard work. Between 2006 and 2010, we delivered eight per cent annualized growth, exceeding our four to six per cent target. Our total return to shareholders over the last five years has been 13.5 per cent annualized. Last year alone, we produced a 31 per cent return to shareholders."

Huskilson told reporters such returns are needed to fund investment in renewable energy projects and lowering emissions.

"As we make those investments, we have to raise money to do that, and as we raise money, we have to be able to attract the capital. In order to do that, we have to be able to provide shareholders and debt holders with a return on their investment."

Bennett said Nova Scotia Power’s rate of return is determined by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, the provincial regulator.

Emera’s first-quarter results for 2011, released Tuesday, included a 59 per cent earnings increase over the same period last year. The utility earned $124 million in the first three months of the year, compared to $78 million a year ago.

The company said the results included one-time gains on two utility acquisitions completed in January.

Nova Scotia Power earned $64 million in the last quarter, compared to $65 million in 2010.

A group of 20 people from the Ecology Action Centre staged a theatrical protest outside the Cunard Centre before the meeting. The protesters, dressed as smokestacks and yellow birds, sang songs and performed a play called Canaries in a Coal Mine.

"We want to send a message that Nova Scotians are very concerned about the rising prices of electricity due, in part, to the unsustainable fuel supply of imported coal here in Nova Scotia," said Brennan Vogel, the centre’s climate change co-ordinator.

The group included six people from the Hillside Trenton Environment Watch Association, which is fighting to reduce emissions at Nova Scotia Power’s coal-fired plant in Trenton.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1241829.html

Emera joins U.S. wind plans

Company to operate projects in Maine, N.Y., Vermont
By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter
Tue, May 3 - 4:54 AM

Emera Inc., the parent company of Nova Scotia Power, is getting into the wind energy business in the northeastern United States.

Emera announced on the weekend it has formed a joint venture with First Wind Holdings LLC of Boston, Mass., and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. of Oakville, Ont., to jointly construct, own and operate wind energy projects in the northeastern U.S.

"First Wind is the premiere wind developer in the northeast and it meets our strategy to invest in renewables and to do so in a low-risk, value-added way," Chris Huskilson, Emera’s president and chief executive officer, told analysts during a conference call Monday.

The new operating company, which has yet to be named, will own seven wind projects producing a total of 370 megawatts. Five of the projects are already operational, including three in Maine and two in New York state. The other two projects, including one in Vermont and another in Maine, are slated to be in service later this year.

Huskilson said he expects the partners will develop more wind projects in the future.

"We’re quite excited about this leading to more, both in the existing pipeline (of projects) that comes with this work, as well as leading to a need for more transmission," he told analysts.

Emera already owns two Maine power companies, Bangor Hydro Electric Co. and Maine & Maritimes Corp.

First Wind will own 51 per cent of the new operating company and continue to operate the wind projects. Emera and Algonquin will own the remaining 49 per cent through a separate joint venture called Northeast Wind.

Emera will initially own 75 per cent of Northeast and Algonquin, 25 per cent.

Northeast will pay $333 million for its stake in the new operating company, with the investment including a $150-million loan to the new venture. The loan will be repaid within five years or converted to equity in future projects, a joint news release said.

Emera said it plans to finance the transaction through existing credit facilities.

Algonquin’s financing plans include a deal with Emera for the Nova Scotia-based company to invest $37 million in the Ontario firm.

Emera will pay $5.37 per share through subscription receipts that will convert to shares once the deal is closed.

The agreement will increase Emera’s stake in Algonquin from 15 to 25 per cent, subject to Algonquin shareholder approval.

The agreement on the three-way joint venture, which does require certain state and U.S. federal regulatory approvals, is expected to close by the end of the year.

On Friday, Emera and Algonquin announced that they have entered into a strategic investment agreement to partner on further energy projects.

"With the support and the co-operation of Emera, we anticipate being able to identify additional attractive independent power and utility investment opportunities," Algonquin CEO Ian Robertson told analysts.

The companies are still free to pursue projects, either on their own or with another partner, that don’t fall within the agreement, he said.

As part of Friday’s deal, Emera will sell its 49.999 per cent stake in California Pacific Electric Co. to Algonquin, subject to state regulatory approval. In return, Emera will receive 8.211 million Algonquin shares in two tranches.

The Ontario company’s shareholders must still approve the deal at a special meeting in June.

Emera first teamed up with Algonquin in April 2009 to operate the California utility.

Algonquin owns and operates about $1 billion worth of clean, renewable power generation and sustainable utility distribution businesses in North America.

On Monday afternoon, Emera’s stock traded down 13 cents a share at $31.37 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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