Canada’s federal government has passed a new law that will allow more offshore wind development along the East Coast, as government officials continue seeking opportunities for green hydrogen production.
The new measure won’t take full effect until both provinces involved—Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador—pass their own legislation mirroring the federal act. Nova Scotia has already done so, and Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to soon follow suit, federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the CBC.
“This is going to be really, really important in the context of creating jobs and prosperity, greening the grid in Nova Scotia, and also creating an export hydrogen industry that can help us to help Germany to decarbonize,” Wilkinson added.
Bill C-49 passed its third reading in the Senate early this month and was granted Royal Assent on Oct. 3. Now an Act of Parliament, it broadens the authorities of offshore petroleum regulators to also accommodate renewable energies, like wind power. This will help provincial and federal governments coordinate wind energy development in jointly managed areas, reports the Government Representative Office in the Senate of Canada.
The law specifically amends the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act and the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act—collectively called the Accord Acts—that have coordinated management of offshore petroleum reserves since the 1980s. Through the Accord Acts, the different governments share regulatory oversight of offshore energy resource development through joint boards.
The amending act changes the boards’ names and establishes them as the regulating bodies for offshore wind projects. It also lays out a ministerial decision-making process for issuing submerged-land licences.
Ministers had been trying to fast-track Bill C-49 in a rush to open up offshore-wind development, but it was slowed down in June when Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw chiefs sent a letter expressing concern about a lack of consultation in the hurried process, CBC says.
Before the new law was enacted, business law firm McMillan LLP said the changes “will likely spark further investment and innovation into wind energy projects in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia—crucial for the production of green hydrogen.”
The federal and provincial governments have long been pushing green hydrogen as an opportunity to boost economic development while meeting clean energy targets. It is hydrogen produced by splitting water molecules using renewable energy, as this CBC article explains. Proponents of the clean-burning fuel say it can play an important role in a clean energy transition by powering “hard-to-abate” sectors like industry and aviation.
Canada has also sought to promote green hydrogen as an export opportunity and in 2022 signed a green hydrogen import-export agreement with Germany. No actual sales have taken place, however, as Canada’s facilities fall behind a 2025 target to start production and German infrastructure is still being built, reports The Globe and Mail.
Building wind farms to supply power to Germany has also encountered pushback from residents who argue that Canada’s wind farms should prioritize supplying low-emissions power to Canadians, rather than shipping it overseas. Some critics have also stated that using wind power to produce green hydrogen is far less efficient than simply supplying electricity to the grid to replace fossil fuels and power domestic energy transition options like heat pumps and electric vehicles.
