Province tells Nova Scotia Power to use more biomass to generate electricity

Taryn Grant · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Nova Scotia is directing the province's main energy shaper to ramp up biomass use, starting instantly and continuing for the adjacent 2 years.

The Houston authorities made a regulatory alteration this week that requires Nova Scotia Power to usage 160 gigawatts of biomass each year until 2027. The caller regularisation builds connected earlier directives for Nova Scotia Power's biomass use. In 2022, the state called for 135 gigawatt hours of biomass-powered energy each twelvemonth until 2025.

A connection from Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau says the state bumped the fig up successful bid to get much renewable vigor connected the grid portion waiting for further upwind and star projects to travel online.

"This is simply a large mode to usage our earthy resources — the byproduct of harvesting and milling — to substance cleaner energy and our greenish economy," Boudreau said.

A spokesperson for Boudreau's section said the further biomass volition regenerate ember and volition beryllium "comparatively priced." They said they don't yet cognize the nonstop cost, but the interaction connected powerfulness rates should beryllium "minimal."

The regularisation utilized to stipulate that biomass burned for energy had to beryllium a forestry byproduct. In different words, it couldn't travel from trees harvested for the sole intent of producing biomass.

The state did distant with that provision. A spokesperson for Boudreau's section said it wouldn't marque economical consciousness for the forestry assemblage to harvest trees explicitly for creating biomass — essentially calling the erstwhile stipulation redundant.

"Only sustainably harvested biomass tin beryllium utilized to assistance Nova Scotia Power conscionable this standard," they said.

The state besides did distant with a provision that enactment a surcharge connected biomass power.

'Nothing cleanable oregon green'

Ray Plourde of the Ecology Action Centre said the government's framing of the regulatory change is disingenuous. 

"There is thing cleanable oregon greenish astir burning wood biomass to nutrient electricity," helium said successful an interview.

Plourde said biomass is often presented arsenic a carbon-neutral substance due to the fact that caller trees recapture c that's emitted from the ones that are chopped and burned. He doesn't bargain that argument. He said the recapture clip is astir 100 years, and "that's clip we don't have" successful the discourse of clime change.

He called it a simplistic calculation that ignores the harms caused by large-scale histrion harvesting to wood ecology and biodiversity.

"And the information that those trees are already storing carbon, and if near live and standing, would proceed to sequester much atmospheric c from each the different planetary constituent sources of emissions," helium added.

Plourde said the determination is "clearly" astir helping the forestry industry.

Indeed, the forestry manufacture welcomes the news.

Helps woodlot owners

"Nova Scotia has an abundance of forestry residuals. We request opportunities to usage that resource," Todd Burgess, enforcement manager of Forest Nova Scotia, told CBC News successful an email.

Insufficient request for low-grade wood has been an ongoing contented for the manufacture since the 2020 closure of the Northern Pulp mill, which was a large purchaser of woodchips.

Burgess said Nova Scotia needs caller markets successful bid to negociate forests pursuing ecological forestry objectives. He said expanding Nova Scotia Power's biomass usage volition assistance woodlot owners bash that.

He said the caller regularisation is "a measurement successful the close direction, but much needs to beryllium done."

"We person opportunities to marque our energy grid much reliable with specifically designed combined vigor and powerfulness plants attached to territory heating networks," Burgess said.

A caller survey made the lawsuit for these combined vigor and powerfulness plants connected to territory heating networks.