Nova Scotia’s Efforts to Transition to Green Energy
On this episode of the Insight Podcast, we feature a conversation with Peter Gregg, the CEO of Nova Scotia Power, who is faced with the challenge of ensuring 80% of electricity is produced by green energy resources by 2030. That is indeed a challenge given only 43% of electricity is currently produced by green energy (mostly wind). Nova Scotia is also faced with being the highest user of coal generated electricity and has a mandate to stop using coal by 2030. As Gregg mentions, some of the current coal generating plants will be closed and some will be repurposed to use natural gas to meet peak electricity demands. The transition will be expensive and the impact on affordability for users is still to be determined. For example, there is a need for high-capacity battery storage to support wind power. Gregg also talks about the need to increase generation capacity by 60% by 2060 to serve a growing population and energy demand and the challenges of climate change which has seen a 54% increase in the frequency of winds above 80 kms/hour in the last five years. He also discusses a number of other renewable energy sources, including nuclear power.
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