Nova Scotia’s offshore wind transmission line could cost $10 billion: premier
By The Canadian Press
June 13, 2025
HALIFAX — It could cost between $5 billion and $10 billion to build a transmission line that would connect Nova Scotia’s proposed offshore wind farms with the rest of the country, Premier Tim Houston says.
The rough estimate follows his announcement last week that Nova Scotia wants to license enough offshore turbines over the next 10 years to produce 40 gigawatts of electricity — eight times more than what was originally planned.
“It’s a concept,” Houston said after a cabinet meeting Thursday, referring to the Wind West project. “It’s a very powerful concept .... My objective, initially, was to capture the imagination of Nova Scotians.”
For context on the size of Houston’s ambitions, Nova Scotia, with just over one million people, requires 2.4 GW at peak demand. The Brussels-based Global Wind Energy Council issued a 2025 report saying China’s offshore wind turbines were producing just under 42 GW as of last year. The council says the global offshore wind energy industry added 11 GW in 2023 and 8 GW in 2024.
Houston went on to say the project would require “hundreds” of wind turbines to be built in water about 100 metres deep, about 25 kilometres offshore.
A renewable energy expert, however, said it will take far more turbines to generate 40 GW of reliable electricity, assuming that a peak capacity of 66 GW would be required. Sven Scholtysik, a research director at Net Zero Atlantic, said that based on the current industry standard of using 15 megawatt turbines, Wind West would require construction of more than 4,000 offshore turbines.
Despite that big number, Scholtysik said there would be ample room for them amid the 19,500 square kilometres within the five “wind energy areas” selected in January by an independent committee appointed by the federal and Nova Scotia governments.
When asked how long it would take to build such an ambitious project, Scholtysik said it would be difficult to come up with an accurate timeline.
“When we look at how long it takes to build an offshore wind park, that 10-year number is about right,” said Scholtysik, who’s research focuses on electricity, clean fuels and modelling. ”But that ambition to install 66 GW is likely going to require multiple projects, not one single project.”
Tina Northrup, a lawyer with the East Coast Environmental Law Association, said Houston’s 10-year time frame does not seem feasible, given the need for consultations and environmental studies.
“It would be unrealistic to have that much offshore wind infrastructure out into the water in a short period of time,” she said. “We understand this to be a vision that might be realized decades into the future. It wouldn’t be an all-at-once kind of thing.”
As for Houston, he has said he floated the idea on June 2 to get the attention of Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has asked provincial and territorial leaders to submit bids for infrastructure projects to help Canada withstand the trade turmoil caused by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I think Nova Scotians are pretty inspired by what’s possible,” Houston said. “This would change Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada and provide green, renewable energy that the world is looking for.”
The Progressive Conservative premier has said he wants Ottawa to help cover the costs of Wind West, saying the excess electricity could supply 27 per cent of Canada’s total demand.
If his plan is successful, Nova Scotia would become an “energy superpower” that no longer requires federal equalization payments, he said.
“We could get off of that transfer system over the next 20 years if we pursued the opportunities that are available to us.”
Houston went on to say Nova Scotia’s offshore is blessed with strong, remarkably steady winds.
Scholtysik, whose research group gets most of its funding from provincial and federal governments, confirmed that the wind energy industry is well aware that Nova Scotia’s offshore winds are among the strongest and most consistent in the world.
A study from the wind energy research firm Aegir Insights, based in Denmark, found that Nova Scotia’s offshore has a “world-class wind resource,” with almost all areas recording consistent wind speeds between 9 and 11 metres per second.
“The consistent availability of good wind resources across the entire offshore territory means that wind speed will likely not be a restricting factor when it comes to siting offshore wind farms,” the 2020 study says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2025
Why Wind Farm Developers Are Pulling Out At The Last Minute
[By Thomas York]
The UK government’s strategy for tackling climate change received a major blow in May when Danish developer Ørsted announced that adverse economic developments had halted its 2.4 gigawatt (GW) Hornsea 4 wind farm in the North Sea.
The government aims to generate at least 43GW of offshore wind power (current capacity is 14.7GW) and 95% of all energy from renewable sources by 2030.
These targets are now in jeopardy. The cancellation of Hornsea 4 follows a similar decision by Swedish developer Vattenfall, which stopped work on its 1.4GW Norfolk Boreas wind farm in 2023.
What is forcing renewable energy developers to pull out when they are due to make their final investment decision?
The offshore wind industry is exposed to fluctuations in the prices of raw materials necessary to meet rising global demand for renewable energy. This vital part of the energy transition, alongside the phaseout of fossil fuels, has been impeded by inflation caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Building a wind turbine requires significant amounts of steel, copper and aluminium, all of which doubled or tripled in price between 2020 and 2023. Turbine manufacturers have raised prices in an effort to recover recent losses. This affects the profitability forecasts of wind energy developers like Ørsted and the viability of each of their projects.
Impending national and international net zero targets also mean that developers globally are having to make earlier investments in transmission infrastructure. An exponential increase in demand for scarce high-voltage cabling has already led to high-profile cancellations of offshore wind farms in the US.
Rising demand for rare earth metals used to make magnets in turbine generators has also been snared by geopolitical issues. The mining, processing and refining of these metals is dominated by China, which manufactures over 90% of these magnets.
A shortage of boats
Developers need boats to build offshore wind farms. Here lies another strain on the timescales of developers.
Ørsted ceased work on its 2.2GW Ocean Wind development zone off the coast of New Jersey in 2023, citing a vessel delay in its decision to cancel the project.
According to the advocacy group WindEurope, demand for vessels capable of installing foundations and turbines and laying cables will outstrip availability within the next five years. The gap between the two is forecast to skyrocket between 2028 and 2030. This will make it harder to commission the wind farms that the UK government is relying on to reach its 43GW target by the end of the decade.
Delays caused by these issues can result in a problem known as “contract erosion”. In their contracts, developers have a commissioning window within which turbines have to start generating. If they are not operational within this time, they lose their subsidies on a day-by-day basis.
Rising costs mean that even one of the world’s biggest wind farms, Dogger Bank in the North Sea, will not be profitable for its developer, Equinor. As a prospect for generating financial returns, renewable energy still cannot compete with oil and gas.
This is the key argument of economic geographer Brett Christophers in his recent book The Price is Wrong. Christophers argues that, if national governments continue to rely so heavily on private sector investment to build renewable energy, decarbonisation is unlikely to proceed as fast as it needs to. It is simply not profitable enough.
Misguided planning reform
How might the UK defy difficult global conditions and meet its 43GW target by 2030? So far, the government’s main proposal has been to relax timelines for the planning process of wind farms.
Earlier in 2025 it opened a consultation on reforms to the contracts for difference process, which is how developers bid for long-term energy generation contracts, prior to an auction round in summer 2025.
The main proposed change was to allow developers of fixed-bottom offshore wind projects to bid in the auction before receiving a development consent order, or a DCO. A DCO defines the approved scope of a development, taking into account environmental surveys, land rights and developer proposals.
It can take more than two years for a DCO to be awarded. The government hopes that fast-tracking fixed-bottom developments will result in more contracts being awarded in the latest auction, but will this work?
The government is aware of the risks. Planning permission could be refused after a contract has been awarded, and projects without consent face even greater uncertainty over costs than developments that already have a DCO.
The government might be able to get more projects into the pipeline, but the supply chain is already stretched to its limits. Through the state-owned investment body GB Energy, the government has pledged £300 million to bolster the domestic supply chain for components required for offshore wind, like platforms and cabling.
However, this investment largely focuses on new technologies for floating offshore wind, leaving fixed-bottom projects like Hornsea 4 at the mercy of vessel delays and raw material price rises. If something does not change to mitigate costs and increase returns for developers, the government’s 2030 target is in doubt.
Thomas York is a Postgraduate Researcher in Human Geography, University of Leicester
This article appears courtesy of The Conversation and may be found in its original form here.
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
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