Posted on December 17, 2025
Nova Scotia could be a future offshore wind hot spot, as New England looks to its Canadian neighbor for an energy source that the Trump administration is quashing in the U.S.
Last month, the industry group Marine Renewables Canada saw attendance to its annual conference in Halifax double over last year, with more than 700 visitors. A few days later, New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers adopted a resolution to continue collaboration on energy infrastructure. And Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston — who both aim to boost their region’s clean power supplies — have had many discussions, including a meeting last week about partnering on energy needs.
Offshore wind energy from Nova Scotia can help fuel New England’s economic growth and create jobs, Houston told POLITICO’s E&E News.
“There’s a natural trading relationship and a natural friendship, where we can trust each other and support each other,” Houston said. “I think that’s certainly of interest to me, but I think it’s of interest to the governors, too.”
Canada has no offshore wind farms today. But sparsely populated Nova Scotia is beginning to plan development as data centers and electrification push up electricity demand — and New England states are contributing to the flurry of interest.
Houston has pitched a vision called “Wind West” that would open Nova Scotia’s coastal waters to generating dozens of gigawatts of wind energy in the coming decades. The province uses only a small fraction of that amount, which Houston said sets up ample export opportunities that could include New England.
Projections show Canada will need two to three times as much electricity in the coming years, said Elisa Obermann, president of Marine Renewables Canada.
While much of that power could flow to population centers in central and western Canada, many transmission lines already connect Canada to the Northeast U.S., and Hydro-Québec has historically supplied a significant amount of power to New England (though that volume has decreased recently amid a historic drought). State and provincial governments and developers are already discussing the possibility of new cross-border transmission cables that could hook into the New England grid.
New England’s long history of energy trade with Canada makes it a “natural market” for potential offshore wind exports, said John Dalton, president of Power Advisory, a consulting firm in Massachusetts that worked with the Nova Scotia government on its Wind West concept.
“The New England states were relying on wind as a foundational resource to meet their clean energy needs,” Dalton said. As the Trump administration delays or stops domestic offshore wind projects, “the New England states have to look elsewhere to alternative strategies to allow them to achieve their clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”
Houston said he has been in ongoing discussions with New England governors to try to provide some certainty to developers about what customers will be available. Those discussions, he said, include early-stage pricing talks.
“What does the pricing look like? What would the power purchase agreements look like?” Houston said.
Nova Scotia and Massachusetts officials have also been talking about the potential for a memorandum of understanding related to wind, he said.
A spokesperson for Healey, Karissa Hand, said that the governor’s office continues “to have productive conversations about potential areas of partnership” with Nova Scotia, and referred questions to the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.
DOER Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony said the state is interested in potential partnerships.
“Building on our successful efforts to connect our regions through transmission, there are significant opportunities to construct new onshore and offshore wind projects across Canada and the Northeast region,” she said in an emailed statement. She added that Massachusetts has a workforce that can contribute to building the offshore wind industry in Canada.
“We will continue to explore partnerships to bring down energy bills, meet rising demand, and bolster the energy independence of our region,” she said.
Other New England states are listening, too.
Dan Burgess, the acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Energy Resources, said in an emailed statement that his state is “engaged in regional coordination with New England and Canadian partners to advance shared energy goals.”
“We’re closely tracking the development of clean energy resources in Canada and considering how offshore wind development and other regional efforts more broadly may deliver reliable, affordable power, modern infrastructure, and broad economic benefits for Maine,” Burgess said.
But not all players are on board.
Daniel Dolan, who represents most of the electricity producers in New England as president of the New England Power Generators Association, said he was skeptical that already-expensive offshore wind could be cost-competitive with other options for New England when the power will have to travel many miles via transmission lines.
“I struggle to see why that’s the best, most competitive deal for New England,” he said. “Even the development of Wind West is predicated on federal funding that hasn’t happened yet, and is predicated on creating a regulatory environment that doesn’t exist yet, and is predicated on transmission interconnections that haven’t been proposed yet.”
Wind West
Houston, the Nova Scotia premier, first announced “Wind West” this summer, touting it as a way to produce up to 66 gigawatts of electricity at maximum capacity — 27 percent of the country’s power demand, he said — and 40 GW consistently.
After studying up to eight potential offshore areas, the Canadian government designated four initial areas — French Bank, Middle Bank, Sable Island Bank and Sydney Bight — for potential development.
The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator is collecting public comments on a pitch from the province to offer leases in three of those areas for projects that would produce between 3 to 5 GW. The energy regulator is expected to open a formal call for bids after public comment ends on Jan. 13.
If all goes as planned, Houston said the province aims to “scale up” by offering leases every year for an additional 3 to 5 gigawatts of power across the available areas.
Points in Nova Scotia’s favor include “world class” wind speeds that are elevated in the winter, when cold regions have peak electricity demands, said Sven Scholtysik, director of research at Net Zero Atlantic, a think tank that aims to decarbonize Atlantic Canada’s economy.
Several of the areas also have relatively shallow water depths, which would allow for fixed-bottom turbines, according to the Nova Scotian government.
The Wind West plan envisions constructing the first Nova Scotia wind project in the early 2030s. Initial estimates indicate transmission cable costs could run from $11 billion to $14.5 billion, while the offshore developments themselves could cost $29 billion, Houston said. In 2023, a report from Power Advisory found that building a cable connecting Nova Scotia’s wind to the New England grid could cost between $6 billion and $8 billion.
The offshore wind industry hopes to rely on Canadian investment tax credits to ease some of those costs. While the credits expire in 2034, businesses are lobbying to extend them until 2040, said Marine Renewables Canada’s Obermann.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has identified Wind West as a priority, as he pushes to make Canada more energy independent amid ongoing trade battles with the Trump administration.
Trade conflicts combined with the Trump administration’s all-out opposition to offshore wind in the U.S. could make potential Canadian projects more viable, experts say.
“With the halt of the offshore wind industry in the United States, a lot of those [companies] are now of course looking for other potential markets in North America,” Scholtysik said.
It remains unclear whether the Trump administration or a future president would look kindly on imports of Canadian wind, which would require a presidential permit for the cross-border cable.
A White House spokesperson referred questions to the Interior Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Houston said existing cables could likely handle some transmission of wind power to New England but that a new cable could bring economic benefits south of the border.
“I’m still optimistic that there’s a need there, and we can help meet that need,” Houston said.
