Ottawa to put $100M toward Nova Scotia offshore wind

Ottawa is set to announce $100 million on Thursday to help build an offshore wind industry in Nova Scotia, according to The Canadian Press and a Natural Resources Canada media advisory.

Updated Oct. 15, 2026, 7:50 a.m. AT. Developing: the announcement had not yet been made when this was published, and the figures below come from pre-announcement reporting.

Energy Minister Tim Hodgson is scheduled to make the announcement in Halifax at 9:15 a.m. Atlantic time, the advisory said. Justice Minister Sean Fraser, who is responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Premier Tim Houston are also listed to attend.

The advisory did not name an amount. The Canadian Press reported the $100-million figure and a partial breakdown, citing a senior government source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The source said $5 million would pay for a fleet of buoys that measure wind speeds and ocean conditions. That data is meant to help investors ahead of a call for bids expected in winter 2027.

The Canadian Press also reported that about $3 million is expected to go toward modelling offshore wind transmission from Nova Scotia to Quebec and Ontario, and toward underwater surveys of possible cable routes. The reports do not explain how the rest of the $100 million would be spent.

The money is aimed at drawing private investment to projects such as Wind West, the province’s plan for large-scale offshore wind off its coast. Houston has long asked Ottawa to help cover its costs.

Those costs are large. The provincial government estimates the first phase would cost about $60 billion and produce about five gigawatts of power as early as 2033, according to The Canadian Press. Roughly $40 billion of that would go to turbines and $20 billion to transmission lines. The $100 million expected Thursday would cover a small fraction of that total.

Nova Scotia needs about 2.4 gigawatts for its own use. In June 2025, Houston said the province would expand its licensing plan eightfold, from five to 40 gigawatts, and has said the surplus could supply 27 per cent of Canada’s total electricity demand. Quebec and Massachusetts have shown interest in buying the power, The Canadian Press reported.

Canada has not yet installed any offshore wind turbines, according to Marine Renewables Canada, an industry group. It said nearly 30 countries are ahead, and that the North Sea alone has thousands of turbines generating more than 30 gigawatts. The group projects the global offshore wind market could reach $1 trillion by 2040.

The announcement lands as environmental groups criticize Ottawa for prioritizing oil and gas over renewables. The federal government’s May electricity strategy aims to double the grid and treats natural gas expansion as a key part of the plan. Clean Energy Canada, a think tank at Simon Fraser University, said the strategy overstates the role of natural gas and understates the benefits of clean energy.

Several questions remain unanswered in the reporting so far. Neither the advisory nor the Canadian Press report says whether Mi’kmaw communities have been consulted on the buoy placements or cable surveys, or whether Ottawa will commit to covering any part of the transmission build. Those details are likely to matter to readers in coastal communities and to investors weighing a bid.

This story will be updated if the federal government releases an official breakdown of the funding.

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Via The Canadian Press (CP24). Additional source: Natural Resources Canada.