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Massachusetts isn’t giving up on offshore wind, even if it means tapping into another country’s grid to access renewable energy.
Amid the upheaval and uncertainty wrought by a Trump administration hostile to offshore wind, the state is in talks with Canadian officials to partner on development, as first reported by Canada’s National Observer.
Massachusetts’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is in “regular communication” with Canadian officials around developing “new energy sources,” a state official tells The Light.
“Countries around the world are advancing their offshore wind industries,” said Massachusetts Energy and Environment Secretary Rebecca Tepper in an email. “Massachusetts, Northeast states, and our Canadian partners are in regular communication about emerging opportunities to build new energy sources and lower costs in our respective regions.”
“We will continue to explore these partnerships to bring down energy bills and bolster the energy independence of our region,” Tepper said.
Maria Hardiman, a spokesperson for Tepper’s agency, told Canada’s National Observer that, by “building on our efforts to connect our regions through transmission, there are significant opportunities to construct new onshore and offshore wind projects across Canada and the [North American] northeast.” Hardiman declined The Light’s request for an interview with the agency.
Canada has land-based turbines, but zero offshore wind projects. However, Nova Scotia, an eastern province of about 1 million people that sits directly east of Maine, plans to hold its first lease auction this year for 2.5 gigawatts (or 2,500 megawatts) of offshore wind energy, with at least one other sale by 2030 to reach 5 gigawatts.
The province’s premier, Tim Houston, asserted his commitment to the industry on stage during a major offshore wind conference in Virginia this spring, making his pitch to developers and suppliers from the U.S. and overseas.
“I actually think the timing couldn’t be better,” Houston said. “Because as things settle down in the United States over the next little while, we can be getting to work in Nova Scotia and building up those supply chains, building the infrastructure and creating the energy that is so much in demand.”
New England gets 5% to 10% of its electricity from Canada, primarily through hydropower from Québec, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office. The source has tapered in recent years, raising a future reliability concern.
Houston mentioned Massachusetts in his spring remarks on offshore wind.
“We know that the demand will grow domestically, but we also know that we need a solid offtake in America, and that will require a cable,” he said. “We know we’re gonna have to invest in a cable to Massachusetts, to Ontario, maybe both. But my government is committed to making these investments. We’re looking for partners.”
In a promotional video last month, Houston touted his plans to export dozens of gigawatts of offshore wind energy across Canada and possibly into the U.S. Northeast.
The Nova Scotia Department of Energy said in a statement to The Light that the provincial government is looking at the “infrastructure that would be needed to get this energy to markets — that could include the United States.”
“There could also be opportunity and motivation for developers to switch their focus from the U.S. to Nova Scotia’s offshore,” the department said in an email. “Premier Houston and other officials have been promoting Nova Scotia’s opportunities in the U.S. and other countries and we’re always having conversations with interested parties.”
Abby Watson, a renewable energy expert and president of the Groundwire Group, said Nova Scotia has prime conditions for offshore wind. The wind speeds are “incredibly strong” — among the strongest in the world — and the water is shallow, meaning developers can use the tried and true (and less expensive) fixed-bottom turbines.
She led a coalition in 2023 that proposed a multi-billion dollar transmission network: New England Maritimes Offshore Energy Corridor. It would run from Nova Scotia to New England states, carrying electricity from offshore wind projects in both directions across the border.
Watson said there are still many unknowns about what Canada’s offshore wind leasing and permitting process will look like, but said in most cases around the world, it takes about seven years for a country to develop and build an offshore wind farm.
The idea of Massachusetts and Canada collaborating did not surprise her. Years ago, the regions established an intergovernmental organization, New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers. Energy and transmission are among the issues they continue to discuss.
“There has been movement within the government on both sides to figure out how to cooperate more effectively so projects get built,” Watson said.
In line with the point Houston made, she thinks the Trump administration’s forced pause of offshore wind’s buildout in the U.S. could benefit Nova Scotia. (If development stalls here, it will free up parts of the supply chain, including workforce and in-demand, specialized vessels.)
Ports in Nova Scotia have already been active in supporting U.S. projects, including Vineyard Wind, providing vessel docking and laydown space for major components.
While there are pauses here in the U.S., Watson said, it “at least provides the opportunity for employment [in Nova Scotia] for people who helped build up offshore wind here.”
Still, “the conversation started before Trump and it will continue after Trump,” Watson said. “The same goes for transmission lines. It will span well beyond single presidential administrations.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
Offshore wind in Canada will effect their fishing and the sea life negatively , just as it has here.
The state of Massachusetts is going to make an international deal with a country? The Constitution gives the federal government the primary power to manage the United States’ foreign relations. Article I, Section 10 prohibits states from engaging in a set of activities that implicate international affairs