**** CNS Media Release
Province Modernizes Regulations to Support Environmental Protection, Transition to Green Energy
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The Province has made changes to two sets of regulations to help support the transition to clean energy. The changes are specific to the green hydrogen sector and were made to ensure the sector has clear, easy-to-understand information about the environmental regulations they must adhere to in Nova Scotia.
The changes to the Environmental Assessment Regulations and Activities Designation Regulations make it clear that:
— large-scale projects that produce and/or store hydrogen or ammonia require a Class I environmental assessment
— facilities that produce and/or store hydrogen or ammonia require operational approvals
— several operational approvals can be bundled under one clear, facility-level approval for hydrogen facilities, thus reducing their administrative burden.
“Transforming our energy sector is critical to tackling the climate change emergency and ensuring the long-term sustainability and health of our environment,” said Timothy Halman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “As the regulator, my role is to ensure that our environmental protection regulations and processes are clear and easy to understand. We want companies to spend less time trying to figure out the rules and just follow them. We are applying this lens to all of our work to see where we need to modernize language and remove ambiguity. These specific changes clarify the environmental regulatory path for green hydrogen, thereby minimizing administrative burden on both them and Department staff, while also maintaining our high environmental protection standards.”
The Department has also created two new business relationship manager positions to help companies navigate and understand the Province’s environmental regulations and processes, including inspection, compliance and enforcement.
Quick Facts:
— about 90 per cent of Nova Scotia’s greenhouse gas emissions come from fossil-fuel generated energy, which contributes to climate change
— on December 9, EverWind Fuels Company was the first business to register a green hydrogen project for environmental assessment in Nova Scotia
— EverWind wants to develop and operate a certified green energy hydrogen and ammonia production facility on an industrial property in Point Tupper; pending all environmental approvals, the company intends to begin construction in the spring
— the Province is developing a green hydrogen action plan to be released in 2023
Additional Resources:
News release – Legislation Supports Green Hydrogen Development: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20221017007
Information on the environment assessment process in Nova Scotia is available at: https://novascotia.ca/nse/ea/
Our Climate, Our Future: Nova Scotia’s Climate Change Plan for Clean Growth: https://climatechange.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/ns-climate-change-plan.pdf
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Regulations Require More Renewable Electricity
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Nova Scotia Power will be using more sustainably harvested biomass over the next three years under a new renewable electricity standard.
The new standard, in the Renewable Electricity Regulations under the Electricity Act, requires the utility to purchase 135,000 megawatt hours of readily available renewable energy in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Biomass is likely to be the only readily available option during that time. It is available due to the closure of the Northern Pulp mill and damage from hurricane Fiona.
“Biomass is renewable, readily available and burns cleaner than coal,” said Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables. “Adding more sustainably harvested biomass for a few years is a small thing we can do in the short term to bring more renewables onto the grid while longer term solutions are built.”
The regulations prohibit cutting whole trees to generate electricity. They only allow biomass in the form of low-quality residual wood and chips that are leftover from sustainable timber harvesting and primary processing.
Suppliers will have increased costs for fuel or to restart operations. Therefore, the utility will be required to pay suppliers an additional $30 per megawatt hour beyond existing contracts. However, the utility has a limit of $4.05 million per year from 2023 to 2025 to avoid creating a burden for ratepayers as the Province encourages the use of more renewable energy.
Quick Facts:
— renewable electricity standards require a specific amount of electricity to be produced from renewables sources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydro
— the current standard requires Nova Scotia Power to generate at least 40 per cent of electricity from renewables
— due to delays with the Maritime Link, the standard was adjusted to an average of 40 per cent from 2020 to 2022; data will be reviewed early in 2023 to determine whether that target was met
— the utility will likely reach about 70 per cent renewables by 2026 with reliable hydro electricity through the Maritime Link and new onshore wind projects
— the renewable electricity standard will increase to 80 per cent in 2030
Additional Resources:
Amendment to the Renewable Electricity Regulations: https://novascotia.ca/just/regulations/regs/2022-331-ELEC-Renewable_Electricity.pdf
