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The Government of Canada has announced about fifteen million dollars in federal funding to support the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to help enable a phase out-out of coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. The funding includes five million dollars for a small modular reactor (SMR) at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick.
Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, and Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Honorable Sean Fraser, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables of Nova Scotia Tory Rushton and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs met on the 16th of October of this year. They agreed to a Joint Policy Statement on Developing and Transmitting Clean, Reliable and Affordable Power in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Statement outlined a two-track collaborative program to reach these goals.
Under the first track of the project, the provincial and federal governments will identify the required investments to support the phase-out of coal-fired electricity by 2030 and the transition to clean energy. Under the second track of the project, the parties agreed to “confirm and advance areas of critical importance and cooperation on the path to net-zero electricity by 2035”. These areas of interest include SMRs in New Brunswick and offshore wind installation in Nova Scotia. Both of these provinces will work on batteries and renewable integration, solar, hydrogen-capable/flex fuel generators, and smart grid management tools.
In addition to the joint policy statement, the Government of Canada said that it will provide federal funding of eight million four hundred thousand dollars to improve grid systems monitoring and automation to support innovation and transformation required for that province to adopt clean generation and manage its transition off coal. Eight million dollars will be provided to support pre-development of ARC Clean Technology Canada’s SMR at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. An additional one million four hundred sixty thousand dollars will be supplied to help explore the feasibility of converting the Belledune coal-fired Generation Station in New Brunswick for coal to sustainably sourced biomass. Finally, seven hundred and fourteen thousand dollars will assist the Belledune Port Authority undertake site preparedness studies to establish an industrial green hub.
Wilkinson said, “Canada's commitment to decarbonizing our electricity grid is foundational to address the global fight against climate change and to seize the economic opportunities associated with the transition to a clean grid from coast to coast to coas. Today's investments will help drive clean electricity development for Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers and establish a pathway to achieve a clean, reliable and affordable electricity system for generations to come.”
Higgs added that “It is important to realize that none of this will be possible without substantial federal funding, and I look forward to future commitment in that regard.”
The ARC 100 is a one-hundred-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor. It has been selected for a demonstration project at New Brunswick Power’s Point Lepreau nuclear power plant site as part of a joint strategic plan for SMR deployment by the provincial governments of Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Alberta. The demonstration reactor is slated for commissioning by 2029, subject to approvals and licensing. Belledune Port Authority has also previously expressed interest in using SMRs as part of a green energy hub.