Canadian province Nova Scotia has kickstarted work on its first offshore wind tender to unlock the up-to-66GW of potential outlined in its ‘Wind West’ vision plan. But the slowdown of offshore wind in the US under the Trump administration will increase pressure on Canada to build its own supply chain.
US offshore wind is in retreat but policymakers in Canada want to show there is still hope for developers north of the border.
On 16th October, the energy regulator in Canadian province Nova Scotia has started the process to pre-qualify bidders for Canada’s first offshore wind tender. The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator (CNSOER) is pre-qualifying bidders until 13th January for a tender for four offshore wind sites off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Canada’s federal government and Nova Scotia province have jointly developed four areas – French Bank, Middle Bank, Sable Island Bank and Sydney Bight – and plan to licence 5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The first three sites are based south of Nova Scotia’s eastern mainland and the fourth is east of Cape Breton Island.
In addition, CNSOER is running a ‘call for information’ process to invite feedback from the industry, fishing sector, public and other stakeholders about developing offshore wind farms in the four zones. This could yet stoke hostility to offshore wind similar to the opposition seen from fishermen to projects in northeastern US states. CNSOER also wanted feedback on possible bid evaluation criteria and terms for site licences.
But how many bidders will Nova Scotia attract? So far, no companies have publicly announced bids and we see little progress on Canadian offshore wind projects.
One potential bidder is DP Energy and SBM Offshore joint venture Nova East Wind, which is developing a 300MW-400MW floating offshore wind farm of the same name 20km-3pkm off the coast of Goldboro, in the French Bank zone. Nova East Wind is due to be operational in 2030 and be made up of 20-25 turbines of 15MW each.
Other developers that have expressed an interest in Canadian offshore wind include Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Northland Power, Oceanic Wind Energy and Simply Blue Group. Reports show there are between 30 and 40 offshore wind projects in development in Canada, but we see little information about most of them and few are in the waters off Nova Scotia.
For instance, one of the most advanced Canadian offshore wind farms is the 960MW Yarmouth scheme by Atlantic Canada Offshore Developments, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Beothuk Energy and CIP. But this scheme, which would be made up of up to 120 Siemens Gamesa turbines, is in the Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick so would not be eligible for this tender.
But Nova Scotia has big ambitions.
The province announced a C$60bn offshore wind vision called ‘Wind West’ in June, where it wants to accelerate the rollout of 66GW of projects. They could produce around 27% of Canada’s currently electricity needs, and the strategy document called Nova Scotia’s offshore wind potential “one of the greatest untapped new energy resources in the world, capable of providing both quantity and long-term fixed prices”.
Federal government is backing this up with a supportive legal framework, including Bill C-49 that passed in 2024 to support the growth of offshore wind off Canada’s Atlantic coast. That bill includes policies to unlock the potential of offshore wind in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador by supporting the joint management of offshore energy resources and is mirrored in changes in March to Newfoundland & Labrador’s Bill 90.
The Nova Scotia offshore wind tender further highlights the province’s progress and could provide a model for other provinces that want to unlock offshore wind’s growth.
However, the lack of an offshore wind supply chain in Canada could prove to be a major obstacle, and provinces like Nova Scotia risk getting caught in the crossfire as President Trump seeks to stop all offshore wind development in the US.
Stopping or slowing the rollout of US offshore wind farms will lead to lower investment in the supply chain in northeastern US states that could have provided vital support for developers in Nova Scotia. Yes, the US has two offshore wind farms in operation and five more in construction, but there looks little prospect of anything in the pipeline after them while Trump is still in the White House. That will curtail supply chain investments while port operators and shipbuilders are feeling the pain of Trump’s slowdown.
Last month, a report by Net Zero Atlantic claimed Canada would need at least 10 large ports on its east coast to support the rollout of offshore wind in its Atlantic waters. That would require significant investment and port operators will only want to make those investments in upgrades if they can see an attractive pipeline of stable projects.
Canada is not there yet, but the Nova Scotia tender could be a good start.
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