Vermont has signed a three-year agreement with Nova Scotia to explore the possibility of importing electricity generated by Canadian offshore wind.
Senior officials in Gov. Phil Scott's administration hope this prospective power could replace electricity from planned offshore wind farms in the United States if the Trump administration blocks those domestic projects.
“As a small state, we can’t generate affordable, clean and reliable energy alone, which is why regional partnerships are critical to reaching our goals,” Gov. Phil Scott said.
Demand for electricity in New England is expected to grow in the coming years, as more people drive electric cars and install heat pumps, and as the region continues to shut down its oil-burning power plants.
Amid all this new demand, Vermont regulators want to secure access to new power for the state’s utilities to prevent a scenario where electricity is scarce and power bills rise.
They’d previously hoped that power might be available domestically. But federal opposition is making it unclear if or when new offshore wind will get built in New England.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia has opened its doors to development and is already soliciting bids to build some 15 gigawatts of offshore wind power starting in the next few years. Hydro Quebec has also expressed interest in developing offshore wind farms there.
“This agreement with Vermont is an important step as we build connections with energy partners … and position Nova Scotia to become a clean energy superpower,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston.
Getting those future electrons to New England homes and businesses will require building out costly transmission infrastructure — the sorts of big power lines and gates that facilitate the flow of large amounts of electricity across borders. Right now, there isn’t a clear path for power to flow from Nova Scotia to the New England grid.
The new memorandum of understanding puts Vermont at the table to negotiate a future path for the electricity, potentially through the Green Mountain State, said Commissioner of Public Service Kerrick Johnson.
Vermont already has a high voltage converter in Highgate that allows power to flow back and forth between New England and Canada, and one possible pathway would be to send power from Nova Scotia into the Canadian grid, down to Vermont’s converter and into New England.
However, the converter is outdated, and would need to be beefed up to accommodate an influx of new electricity from offshore wind.
Vermont’s grid operator, VELCO, has proposed updating the converter at a cost of between $500 million and $1 billion, which would be borne by electric customers around the region if the upgrades are approved by local and regional stakeholders.
“There’s great value to Vermont and the other New England ratepayers to as large a new converter as possible, because that will allow a more robust power market,” Johnson said. “That will create more goods that can be sold into New England and thus alleviate the limits on power supply, which drives up costs.”
Massachusetts entered a similar MOU with Nova Scotia earlier this year, and Johnson says the New England states view themselves as partners — not competitors — in their efforts to bring more electrons into the region.
Potential alternative paths for connecting New England with Nova Scotia include building new power lines under the seafloor or connecting the Quebec grid to New England’s grid in Maine.
Local renewable developers and the environmental group Vermont Public Interest Research Group criticized the administration’s focus on importing more low carbon power, and said the state should focus on building out local renewable resources like solar and wind within Vermont’s borders — something they say Scott has stymied during his tenure as governor.
