A Scottish company, Nova Innovation, is eligible for up to $4 million of that federal grant money for its plan to install 15 small sub-sea turbines in the Petite Passage at Digby Neck, N.S.
Nova Scotia FIT
The companies operate under a system known as feed-in tariffs, which guarantee a rate per kilowatt-hour of energy fed into the province’s electricity grid.
Dalhousie University’s Agricultural Campus (AC) in Truro, N.S., officially opened its renewed $26.5-million Biomass Energy Plant, made possible, in part, through the Nova Scotia Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) program. The plant will not only meet campus thermal needs with energy, it will also provide Nova Scotia Power with electricity.
Natural Resources Canada, a federal agency, recently announced C$29.8 million of funding for Halagonia Tidal Energy, a subsidiary of DP Energy, to develop a 9-megawatt tidal array demonstration project — among the largest ever built — off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia’s new Electricity Plan Implementation Act and policies will intentionally leave the province at the back of the pack for climate mitigation and pollution reduction. This is unacceptable.
The Ecology Action Centre was concerned this two-price system would skew developers to build clusters of smaller, less-efficient units just to capture the higher price. EAC wanted a sliding price scale based on turbine size. The government wouldn’t budge.
The scheme is the Nova Scotia Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT), which was designed to encourage community-based, local renewable energy projects by guaranteeing a rate per kilowatt-hour for the energy the project fed into the province’s electrical grid.
The Energy Department announced Thursday that the community feed-in tariff program is no longer accepting new applications. The move doesn’t affect COMFIT projects that have already been approved or are awaiting a decision by the department.
One of seven new Community Feed-In Tariff (COMFIT) projects to produce local renewable electricity will be located in Bible Hill.
The province’s decision allows developers to finalize 15-year supply contracts with Nova Scotia Power. The tariff, an established price per kilowatt hour, was set by the province’s Utility and Review Board in 2013. The rate is in place during during the industry’s developmental stages. Projects totalling 17.5 megawatts are in the works by Minas Energy, Black Rock Tidal Power, Atlantis Operations Canada and Cape Sharp Tidal Venture.
