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Green Choice Program
The Green Choice Program will add a lot more clean energy to our grid, bring more green jobs and investments to Nova Scotia, help stabilize power rates, and make a big decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
About the program
The Green Choice Program helps large-scale electricity customers get clean electricity. These customers include public institutions like governments, hospitals, schools and universities, and some large industrial and commercial businesses.
To participate, Green Choice customers must be large-scale customers of Nova Scotia Power and they must pay their power bill directly to the utility, rather than through a landlord.
Customers of municipal electric utilities are not included. They’re increasingly getting clean electricity through those utilities.
The program opened in December 2023 and all applicants were accepted. There are 11 customers in the program.
Learn more: Green Choice Program Customers (PDF)
Benefits of the program
New wind farms to support the program will add 19% more clean electricity to the grid by the end of 2028. They’ll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 8%.
By the time the wind farms are up and running in 2028, we anticipate being at about 78% renewables through this program and several other initiatives.
The wind farms will bring green jobs to Nova Scotia – about 700 constructions jobs and 30 full-time jobs once projects are operational. About half of the $1.2 billion in capital costs to build the wind farms will be spent in Nova Scotia.
The wind farm developers will invest about $73.5 million in benefits like training, skill development, capacity building, grants, or scholarships for communities where they located. Those municipalities will get about $7 million in tax revenue.
Wind is among the cheapest forms of electricity and its price is stable and far cheaper than coal. This made-in-Nova Scotia clean electricity makes the province less susceptible to volatile fossil fuel prices and that helps stabilize power rates.
The program is part of Nova Scotia’s Clean Power Plan (PDF) to meet legislated goals for 2030:
- stop using coal for electricity
- generate 80% of electricity from renewables
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 53% from 2005 levels
The program is an action in Our Climate, Our Future: Nova Scotia’s Climate Change Plan for Clean Growth (PDF).
New wind farms
Nova Scotia is getting 6 new wind farms to support the Green Choice Program. They’ll be built by the end of 2028. They’ll generate more than 2,000 gigawatt hours of clean electricity per year.
The wind farms will add more than 12 per cent (about 1,300 gigawatt hours) more clean electricity to the grid for Green Choice customers and nearly 7 per cent (about 700 gigawatt hours) more for the rest of Nova Scotia ratepayers. That totals 19% and is the single largest addition of clean electricity in Nova Scotia’s history.
Nova Scotia Power will pay an average of $63.62 per megawatt hour for electricity from the wind farms. That’s a substantial fuel cost saving compared to coal. Moving away from fossil fuels makes Nova Scotia more energy independent and that helps stabilize power rates.
The wind farms were chosen through a competitive, independent procurement process.
All 6 wind warms are co-owned by private developers and Mi’kmaw communities:
- Blueberry Acres, Cumberland County – developed by SWEB in partnership with Glooscap First Nation
- Eigg Mountain, Antigonish County – developed by Renewable Energy Systems Canada in partnership with Paq’tnkek and Pictou Landing First Nations
- Melvin Lake, Hants and Halifax Counties – developed by ABO Energy Canada in partnership with Eskasoni, Potlotek, We’koqma’q L’nue’kati and Wagmatook First Nations
- Rhodena, Inverness County – developed by ABO Energy Canada in partnership with Eskasoni, Potlotek, We’koqma’q L’nue’kati and Wagmatook First Nations.
- Sugar Maple, Pictou County – developed by SWEB in partnership with Glooscap First Nation
- Yellow Birch, Pictou County – developed by SWEB in partnership with Glooscap First Nation
Contact
Green Choice Program
greenchoice@novascotia.ca