Undersea cable between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia wins approval

Nova Scotia’s utility approval board has agreed to a 180-kilometre subsea cable “Maritime Link” from Newfoundland across the Cabot Strait into Nova Scotia.

NSP Maritime Link, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emera, is designing, engineering, constructing and financing the 500-MW transmission project. The project already received a release from the Federal Environmental Assessment process and environmental approvals from the provinces of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

On July 22, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board confirmed that the link represents the lowest cost option for Nova Scotia to meet its greenhouse gas and coal reduction laws. It gave approval on condition that Nova Scotia would be able to buy market-priced energy from from Nalcor, the crown utility in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Maritime Link is part of a larger plan for Newfoundland to develop hydro power along the Lower Churchill Rover in Labrador, partly for export outside the province. The plans include a 824-MW power plant at Muskrat Falls that is now under construction.

A longer transmission line, the “Labrador-Island” link,” is required to bring the Churchill Falls power down from Labrador to the island of Newfoundland. The Labrador-Island line will run for a total of 1,100 kilometres overland from Central Labrador and then underwater for 35 kilometres across the Strait of Belle Isle to Shoal Cove, Newfoundland. In late June Nalcor won an environmental release from the province for the transmission line based on the mitigation measures it has proposed. The utility had to conduct extensive consultations with First Nations and other parties that are affected by the corridor and is now awaiting the release of a comprehensive study report in the federal environmental assessment process.

For information about the Maritime Link, click here. and here.

For more information about the Labrador-Island Link, click here.