The Government of Canada announced approximately C$20 million ($15 million) aimed at getting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick off coal by 2030.
At a meeting Oct. 16, the Governments of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia agreed to a collaboration on deploying clean power projects in the two provinces.
C$11.5 million ($8.4 million) in federal funding would go to Nova Scotia Power to improve grid system monitoring and automation as new clean energy assets are commissioned and the proportion of wind power on the province’s grid grows.
C$7 million ($5.1 million) would support predevelopment of ARC Clean Technology Canada’s small modular reactor to be deployed at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick.
The ARC Canada technology is a modular 100 MW fast reactor that is designed to operate with a 20-year refueling cycle. As with other SMRs, it has a modular design that can be produced in a factory.
Its design is based on the EBR-II, a sodium-cooled fast nuclear reactor developed in the 1960s by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Labs. That reactor supplied energy to the grid for 30 years in Idaho and demonstrated the design’s safety, metal fuel fabrication, load following and waste recycling capabilities.
C$2 million ($1.5 million) would explore the feasibility of converting the Belledune coal-fired plant in New Brunswick from coal to biomass. Another C$978,945 ($718,394) would be invested in helping the Belledune Port Authority undertake site preparedness studies to establish an industrial green hub.
The Oct. 16 announcement included Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.
Canada aims to have a net-zero electric grid by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050. The country has been a supporter of carbon-free technologies like advanced nuclear reactors and clean hydrogen and ammonia production.
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