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Amid a federal government hostile to offshore wind, the Healey administration announced Thursday that it would be advancing its clean energy partnership with the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
Massachusetts and Nova Scotia issued a Request for Information (RFI) on Nov. 12 to explore projects that would harness the power of Canadian wind and deliver it to New England homes.
“We need more affordable, reliable energy, and that’s going to take working with our neighbors,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement Thursday. “We’re excited to take this next step together.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper made the announcement in Boston at the New England-Canadian Business Council’s annual energy conference.
The RFI is the first step in the memorandum of understanding between Healey and Houston signed earlier this year. In February, Houston pitched Nova Scotia as a consistent and reliable partner in offshore wind projects, a stark contrast to the highly adversarial Trump administration.
Just the past week, President Donald Trump tempered his support for a federal permitting reform bill, implying he would not support the bipartisan bill if it helped greenlight offshore wind projects. The Trump administration has sought to pull permits for already-approved wind projects — in some cases remanding projects that have already been constructed.
“We are a predictable and reliable regulatory jurisdiction,” said David MacGregor, associate deputy minister of the Nova Scotia Department of Energy, at a U.S. offshore wind energy conference in February.
The RFI was issued alongside Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont, who share a power grid with Massachusetts but have so far not signed their own memorandums of understanding with Nova Scotia.
State leaders stressed that the new partnership could lead to real energy savings for ratepayers, although how much is unclear. Two large-scale offshore wind projects, Vineyard Wind and Revolution Wind, announced they were sending full power to New England’s grid earlier this month, but the exact amount won’t be known until next quarter when the companies submit data to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Massachusetts energy prices rank among the highest in the nation, particularly in the winter months when demand spikes. Offshore wind, which produces the most electricity in the winter when winds are highest, has been touted by proponents as the solution to both the state’s affordability woes and its clean energy goals.
Although more supportive of offshore wind than the current U.S. administration, Canada still navigates some of the same challenges. In October, the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, a labor group representing fishermen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, called on the Canadian government to better consider the commercial fishing industry in its offshore wind expansion.
At home, commercial fishermen have been some of offshore wind’s steepest critics, arguing the technology could irreparably impact the $175-billion-dollar industry. As the Trump administration shuts out offshore wind, it has also sought to boost commercial fishing with a steady rollback of environmental regulations.
This month, the New Bedford Port Authority embarks on a state-funded study of offshore wind’s impacts on scallop fishermen navigating the newly completed wind fields.
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
