Chasing the wind: New report calls for urgent offshore wind project to help bolster Canada's electricity supply

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 16, 2023 /CNW/ - The Public Policy Forum today released a new report that underscores the game-changing potential of offshore wind power in Atlantic Canada and outlines an ambitious vision for its development as an urgent national project to help bolster the country's much-needed electricity supply.

Titled Catching the Wind: How Atlantic Canada can become an energy superpower, the report notes that despite having among the world's longest and windiest coastlines, Canada does not yet have a single turbine, operating or under construction, in its offshore waters. While nearly 30 countries are ahead of us, Atlantic Canada's maritime legacy, deep-water ports, skilled workforce and robust ocean technology sector position it well to become a powerful emerging player in the field.

"Offshore wind could be for Atlantic Canada what oil was to Texas or hydro power to Quebec," writes report author Peter Nicholson, Chair of the Board of the Canadian Climate Institute. "We are talking here not of something incremental, but monumental."

"This revolution creates a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Atlantic Canada to recover an economic vitality comparable to the Age of Sail ? fittingly built again on the power of wind at sea."

If Canada is to meet its goal to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, wind power is going to have to provide about 30 per cent of total electricity supply, compared to less than six percent in 2021. The report argues offshore wind power is extremely clean, stronger and more reliable than terrestrial sources, and less intermittent than solar ? as well, it is strongest in the winter months, complementing solar power generation.

Several areas off the Atlantic coast provide some of the world's best wind conditions and could support very large energy generation facilities. The Scotian Shelf off Sable Island is of particular note: the installation of about 1,000 offshore turbines there could supply 6.5 million Canadian homes, or almost twice the total annual electricity currently consumed in Atlantic Canada.

"As the fight to halt climate change becomes more pressing, Canada needs to turn its inexhaustible wind resource into infinitely renewable electricity. That will require a new level of ambition, even audacity," the report argues. "It would be unfortunate if short-sighted parochialism ? always a risk ? were to stand in the way of the interprovincial collaboration needed to fully realize the transformative opportunity created by offshore wind energy developed at world-class scale."

SOURCE Public Policy Forum