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Nova Scotia’s energy resources include natural gas, coal, wind and hydropower. The province generates electricity from these sources as well as fuel oil.
In 2008, provincial government revenues included $451.8 million in petroleum.
Mining and oil and gas extraction and utilities accounted for 5.4 per cent of Nova Scotia’s gross domestic product in 2008.
Nova Scotia’s energy workforce averaged 8,300 employees in 2009.
Nova Scotia’s energy exports include natural gas and electricity. Its energy imports include crude oil and petroleum products.
Discover the key energy facts about Nova Scotia.
By the numbers (497KB PDF)
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Natural Gas
Nova Scotia’s reserves of natural gas totalled almost 500 billion cubic feet in 2008. Marketed production in 2008 averaged 426 million cubic feet per day. Most of the reserves and all of the production are from the Sable Offshore Energy Project 225 kilometres east of the mainland.
The Sable project consists of five fields – Thebaud, North Triumph, Venture, Alma and South Venture – which produce to a central facility on the Thebaud platform. Production is then piped to a processing facility at Goldboro where the natural gas liquids are removed.
A second project under development is the Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project approximately 250 km southeast of Halifax. Reserves are estimated at almost 900 billion cubic feet and the production rate is expected to average 300 million feet metres per day.
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Natural Gas Pipelines
The Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline delivers natural gas from the Sable Offshore Energy Project, off the coast of Nova Scotia to markets in Atlantic Canada and New England.
The 1,400 kilometre pipeline extends undersea from the Sable gas fields to Goldboro, Nova Scotia, then overland through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Maximum throughput is about 600 million cubic feet per day.
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Refineries
The Imperial Oil refinery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia processes up to 89,000 cubic feet of crude oil per day into unleaded gasoline, jet fuel, stove oil, furnace fuel, diesel, ships' fuel, propane, butane, sulphur, heavy fuel oil, asphalt, heptene and octane.
It began operation in 1918, and has been expanded several times since.
The refinery employs about 200 people.
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Hydroelectricity
Nova Scotia has 32 hydro generating stations on 16 different river systems throughout the province. Combined installed capacity is 360 megawatts or 15.1 per cent of Nova Scotia’s total installed capacity.
In 2008, Nova Scotia generated 1,065.3 megawatt-hours or 9.1 per cent of its electricity using hydropower.
The first hydro plant in Nova Scotia was built in 1902 on the Liscomb River in Guysborough County.
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Coal
Nova Scotia has three active coal mines, two on Cape Breton Island and one near Stellarton in Pictou County. Combined annual production averages 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes. Most production is used to fuel the province’s coal-fired generating stations.
Coal production began in Nova Scotia circa 1720 and peaked in the mid-1940s. The decline in demand steepened following World War Two when relatively cheaper petroleum products became more readily available.
An industry joint venture is currently assessing the feasibility of developing the Donkin Submarine Coal Resource Block northeast of Cape Breton. The project could produce three to four million tonnes of high-energy, high-sulphur coal per year.
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Wind
Nova Scotia has 20 wind farms, most of which comprise only one or two wind turbines. Combined installed capacity is 111.86 megawatts or 4.74 per cent of the province’s total.
The largest wind farm is Dalhousie Mountain, which has 34 turbines and an installed capacity of 51 megawatts.
Grand Étang and Little Brook were the first two wind farms in Nova Scotia. They began generating electricity in October 2002.
There are 11 additional wind farms under construction, or for which there is a signed power purchase agreement, in Nova Scotia. The largest of the proposed wind farms is the Glen Dhu Wind Park, located near Merigomish. It will have an installed capacity of 60 megawatts and is expected to be in service later in 2010.
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Thermal Electricity Generation
Nova Scotia has four coal-fired generating stations with a combined installed capacity of 1,267megawatts or 52.1 per cent of its total installed capacity.
The Tufts Cove Generating Station, in Dartmouth, is the only gas-fired power plant in Nova Scotia. It can also be fuelled by oil. With an installed capacity of 415 megawatts, or 17.4 per cent of the province’s total, it is the second largest generating station in Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia has three generating stations that use oil-fired combustion turbines to produce electricity. Their combined installed capacity is 222 megawatts or 9.1 per cent of the province’s total
The province also has three biomass-fuelled generating stations with a combined installed capacity of 30.4 megawatts.
Thermal electricity facilities can generate power several different ways, including natural gas (represented by circles on the map), oil/diesel generation (squares), coal (triangles) and biomass (diamonds).
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Tidal Power
The Annapolis Tidal Power Plant is the only tidal power plant in North America and one of three in the world. It is located at Annapolis Royal on the Annapolis Basin, an inlet off the Bay of Fundy. It has an installed capacity of 20 megawatts.
Because of its great tidal range, one of the largest in the world, the Bay of Fundy is considered to be a prime location for tidal power generation.
To test the effectiveness of in-stream tidal generation, Nova Scotia Power has deployed a 10-metre diameter, one megawatt in-stream tidal turbine in the Minas Passage of the Bay of Fundy – home to the world’s most powerful tides.
