Public input sought on future of offshore wind farms in N.S.

The federal government is asking for public comments to help shape the future of offshore wind power-generating projects in Nova Scotia.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which isresponsible for conducting environmental assessments, began soliciting feedback on Wednesday.

The federal and provincial governments are working together to study offshore wind energy in both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.In Nova Scotia, the study area covers much of the province's coastline, excluding areas near Halifax, the Canso Causeway and the Bay of Fundy east of Brier Island.

The governmentswant to receive input about potential environmental, health, social and economic impacts of offshore wind projects. They will use the input to inform planning, licensing processes and, eventually, impact assessments of proposed electricity-generating wind farms.

A committee of five will be struck to conduct the study, but its makeup has not yet been announced. Members of the committeewill be appointed by the federal environment minister, with the agreement of the federal and provincial natural resources ministers.

The committee will also receive information from Indigenous, scientific and fisheries advisory groups, as well as federal and provincial government experts.

N.S. government keen onoffshore wind

The government of Nova Scotia has ambitious plans for offshore wind.

Last month, the premier announced the province's goal of offering leases to produce five gigawatts of electricity from offshore wind turbines by 2030, in part to supportanemerging green hydrogen sector. Right now, the generation capacity of the province's entire electricity grid is 2.5 gigawatts.

The province hopes to issue the first call for offshore bids in 2025, but needs anew regulatory regime before that can happen.

The government plans to expand the mandate of the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board to include the regulation of offshore renewable energy. The board's name will be changed to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Board when that happens.

The province also has a goal ofhaving 80 per cent of electricity needs supplied by renewable energy by 2030.

Public submissions will be accepteduntil Nov. 26.