Canadian
utility Emera has proposed exporting power from 1.2GW of future onshore wind
farms in eastern Canada via a subsea cable to Massachusetts, to help the New
England state meet its mandated renewables target.
Emera’s
Atlantic Link project would harness seven as-yet-unbuilt wind farms in the
provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, backed by a range of both large
international developers like RES and EDF-RE as well as smaller players
like Natural Forces and SWEB.
The largest of
the seven proposed wind projects is the 403MW Salmon River development in
southeastern New Brunswick, owned by Germany’s Enercon and Nova Scotia-based
Natural Forces. If built today, Salmon River would be the largest wind farm in
Canada, topping EDF’s two-phase 350MW Rivière-du-Moulin in Quebec.
The Atlantic
Link is one of a group of proposed transmission projects that have been put
forward under Massachusetts’ Clean Energy tender. The land-constrained state
seeks to import 9.5 million MWh of renewable power annually – and will provide
developers with coveted long-term contracts.
Massachusetts’
clean-energy tender represents one of the largest opportunities for developers
of renewables and transmission projects in the region today – and a lifeline
for eastern Canada’s once-thriving wind sector, which faces a shortage of domestic opportunities.
Massachusetts
will announce the winners by January 2018.
Separately,
Massachusetts is also seeking 1.6GW of offshore wind contracts by 2027, in the
largest offshore wind request for proposal to date in the US.
Among the other
transmission projects offered into Massachusetts' onshore tender are Avangrid’s
New England Clean Energy Connect, National Grid’s Granite State
Power Link, Transmission Developers Inc.’s New England Clean Power
Link, and Eversource’s Northern Pass.
All are tied to existing renewables capacity or new developments, like
the proposed expansion of the Seigneurie de Beaupré wind farm
in Québec.
But
Emera’s Atlantic Link is perhaps the most audacious of the lot,
proposing to run a 1GW high-voltage direct current cable from Coleson Cove, New
Brunswick, down through the Bay of Fundy and along the Atlantic coast, ending
at Plymouth, Massachusetts – near the state’s retiring Pilgrim nuclear plant.
The Atlantic Link
would become the longest subsea interconnector in North America when it came on
line in 2022, running for 375 miles (600km).
All told, Emera
is offering to deliver about 5.7 million MWh of renewable power each year into
Massachusetts at a fixed rate over 20 years, including 4.1 million MWh from the
wind farms and the remainder from Canadian hydropower.
In doing so, it
would only be utilising 65% of the Atlantic Link’s total capacity, meaning
Massachusetts could increase its purchases over time – perhaps fostering
additional Canadian wind development.
Emera says it
has already executed power-purchase agreements with the wind developers, whose
projects would more than double the installed onshore wind base in Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick.
The seven wind
projects that would initially feed into the Atlantic Link are the:
·
403MW Salmon
River project, developed by Enercon/Natural Forces.
·
155MW
Yorkshire, developed by EDF-EN Canada
·
151MW Black
Spruce, developed by SWEB/Black & McDonald
·
148MW Higgins
Mountain II, developed by Elemental Energy/Katalyst/3G Energy
·
148MW Colborne,
developed by RES Canada
·
130MW Silver
Brook, developed by RES Canada
·
59MW Andy’s
Pond, developed by Enercon/Natural Forces
Halifax-based
Emera is presently nearing completion of its Maritime Link, which will connect
the island of Newfoundland to the North American grid for the first time, via a
500-mile subsea HVDC line running to Nova Scotia.
The Maritime
Link is also expected to open opportunities for renewables development in
Atlantic Canada – including perhaps the country’s first offshore wind project.
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