Canada’s three Maritime provinces agreed Thursday to work together on their future electricity needs as the country looks to bolster its energy security.
The provincial governments plan to make a regional road map for electricity transmission by next spring and will consider creating an independent electricity system operator to manage power delivery in the Maritimes.
The commitment is part of a broad memorandum of understanding signed by New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said the deal will lead to more affordable electricity prices as the provinces co-ordinate on what energy projects they build.
Get breaking National news
“It benefits all three of our provinces and really strengthens our ability to be resilient,” Holt told reporters Thursday.
Holt, P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced the deal ahead of a meeting between Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney in Charlottetown on Thursday.
Michelle Robichaud, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy, hailed the memorandum as a big first step toward a more integrated electricity grid across the three eastern provinces.
“Collaboration allows us to look at where the money should be more efficiently spent in order to ensure that the grids remain reliable and stable and able to support economic development in the region,” Robichaud said in an interview.
For example, she said a new Maritimes power operator could identify gaps in the system and put out a tender for new wind farms as energy needs grow in the region. She said it would act similarly to an air traffic controller and direct energy to where it’s required in the three provinces.
Meanwhile, the federal government announced $5.9 million Thursday to kick-start planning and technical work to build a pair of new undersea power cables from New Brunswick to P.E.I.
- Another six whales being moved out of Marineland, headed to U.S. aquariums
- Saskatoon councillors uphold funding behind controversial $297K art installation
- London-area animal rescue faces $200K bill after cats seized by province
- Montreal police chief says change will take time amid racism allegations
“This is the first stage, absolutely, but we fully expect to install new cables,” Lantz told reporters, adding that the lines are needed to meet the Island’s future power demands and avoid blackouts.
The funding will help lay the groundwork for construction on the two new 200-megawatt, 138-kilovolt cables by 2028. The project will also include related transmission and substation upgrades in both provinces.
Holt said New Brunswick is the “energy hub” for the Maritimes due to its central location between Quebec, P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.
Bradley McPherson, director of innovation for the Centre for Nuclear Energy Research at the University of New Brunswick, agreed his province can be a crucial backstop for the Island and Nova Scotia. For instance, he said New Brunswick can use its nuclear power as a backup while its neighbours pursue more renewable energy projects — such as wind farms that provide intermittent power.
“When I think about Wind West, for example, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia can advance that opportunity together,” McPherson said, referencing Nova Scotia’s plans for a $60-billion, five-gigawatt offshore wind project.
McPherson said he doesn’t see the agreement leading to a single unified power grid but rather a promise for the provinces to reliably help each other keep the lights on into the future.
“Energy is that piece, it underpins everything that we do. From economic development, from health care, education, it’s agriculture, it’s behind everything.”
Susan Holt is out to lunch, on your dollar. This woman is a train wreck. She is selling us out. We don’t need more wind farms, they don’t return enough energy to justify building them. The only thing they are good for is funneling more of your tax dollars into Brookfield (Mark Carney’s) wallet, at your expense. This is a scam. Build another nuclear reactor if you need energy. Someone find this womans brain, she seems to have left it somewhere because it’s not in her head. Or maybe she is just part of the corruption.
Eat all politicians
Horse poop is also a renewable resource with an abundance of reserves in every ranchers field or liberal government platform.
You can smoke it, cook with it, hey maybe you can refine it with hopium so you can drive around in a little car out of dr Seuss meep meep “out of the way I am full of sh-poop and I am on a roll” you could yell as you drive your shi-box to work
Also dont they use hydrogen for bombs and had issues with Zeppelins?
(Fun fact if you research hydrogen 95% of the time its far less green than burning Nat gas, because, they use natural gas to produce it and it provides less energy when you burn it than nat gas-> like mulching up $20 bills to print new $5 bills)
Wow more MOUs, Carney must have an orchard of these things just growing on trees.
So many MOUs too keep track of and no projects started to point to its confusing, perhaps Carney will need to get on TV and issue another national strategy to manage the MOU system (Kinda lile an IOU except IOU come with expectations or repayment where as MOU promises nothing)
After announcing the MOU strategy carney can create the MOU office costing only $3BB a year to manage all the governments unfulfilled promises, to keep this in line he will have to hire another x banker or brookfield buddy as the minister of MOU to manage it all and fly him around the world on his 10th repeate trip to germany, India and austrailia.
When he said shrink the government he just meant get rid of all the JT stuff but replace it with an even bigger Carney government-> Reminds me of trump renaming everything and putting Obama pictures in a vacant stairwell in the white house eh
Hydrogen!!. You have an abundance of reserves that replenish themselves. Perpetual energy and green also. Fits the narrative.