Bill’s Passage Lets Ottawa, Atlantic Provinces Regulate Offshore Wind Energy Projects

Wind turbines generate electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm near Block Island, R.I., on July 7, 2022. John Moore/Getty Images

Ottawa and the provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador will jointly develop Atlantic Canada’s offshore wind and other renewable energy industries under a new regulatory regime with the passage of Bill C-49 into law on Oct. 3.

Bill C-49 amends previous federal-provincial legislation on offshore petroleum management and revenue sharing to add renewable energy projects such as wind and hydrogen to the regulatory mandate.

Natural Resources Canada said in a release that the new regulatory framework 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 the federal-provincial structure 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.

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 that said “significant development opportunity” for offshore wind exists along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence due to shallow water close to land, consistent and strong winds, and existing infrastructure in the surrounding provinces.

Conservatives Oppose Bill’s ‘Red Tape’

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 government committed to in 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.”