Legislation enabling the development of the offshore wind industry in Atlantic Canada has become law after receiving royal assent on Oct. 3.
Bill C-49 establishes a new regulatory regime for the offshore accords of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, amending acts in the provinces that govern joint offshore petroleum reserve management and revenue sharing between the province and federal government.
The bill would rename the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to reflect their role as regulators and add offshore renewables to their mandates, while creating a regulatory regime for offshore, wind, and other renewable energy projects that currently exist for offshore petroleum operations.
Natural Resources Canada said
in a release that Bill C-49 is expected to bring in billions of dollars in investment and generate thousands of jobs for the provinces, while also positioning Canada to be the “leading supplier of clean energy.”
Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said Bill C-49 will allow the province to meet its “offshore wind targets.”
“Now that this bill has passed, along with our own provincial mirror legislation, we are well on our way to developing our offshore wind industry hand in hand with our federal partners, starting with issuing our first call for bids next year,” he said in the release.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology Andrew Parsons said the legislation will provide “maximum economic returns” for the province.
Natural Resources Canada has
said the offshore wind generation market is expected to attract $1 trillion in global investment by 2040. According to the
Global Wind Energy Council, a total of 75 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity was in operation by the end of 2023 and is expected to grow to 410 gigawatts by 2033.
While 7.7 percent of Canada’s total electricity capacity comes from onshore wind power, offshore wind projects have been slower to develop, according to a
report by Norton Rose Fulbright. The report said there is “significant development opportunity” for offshore wind along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence due to shallow water close to land, consistent and strong winds, and an existing infrastructure in the surrounding provinces.
Conservatives Oppose ‘Red Tape’ Bill
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson described the legislation as an important step toward Canada reaching its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, which the country agreed to through the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act that
became law in June 2021.
“Bill C-49 is about creating a clean electricity grid, seizing the economic opportunities of a low-carbon future and about the opportunities this entails for economic reconciliation with indigenous peoples,” he
said when introducing the bill in the House of Commons on Sept. 19, 2023.
Conservative legislators
opposed the bill, with MP Shannon Stubbs warning it would drive investment out of Canada with “more uncertainty, red tape, and extended and costly timelines.”
She said the bill would “subject offshore renewable energy to the same web of uncertain regulations, long and costly timelines and political decision-making that has driven hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector energy investment, hundreds of businesses and hundreds of thousands of energy jobs out of Canada and into other jurisdictions around the world.”
