CBRM considering task force to get Sydney harbour ready for coming offshore wind industry

Cape Breton Regional Municipality is considering the creation of an offshore wind task force to plan for future business opportunities in Sydney harbour.

CBRM Coun. Steve Parsons, a member of the federal offshore wind assessment committee for Nova Scotia, said the province wants to generate five gigawatts of electricity from turbines at sea, but those likely won't get built until at least 2033.

He said a task force is needed now to get the region prepared.

"We've got nine years to get our supply chains ready, our infrastructure ready, our training [and] labour component ready," Parsons said. "For every ending there's a beginning, so I'm suggesting let's get that beginning today.

"In order to be prepared and take advantage of an opportunity, you first need to know where you stand, what you have, what you don't have and at the end of the day put a business case together for what you don't have to be able to supply it."

Parsons said Atlantic Canada Bulk Terminal is already marshalling and shipping huge steel offshore wind turbine parts in Sydney harbour, but it's clear that more and larger wharfs are needed to support the industry, and businesses will need to supply the people and ships involved.

Officials in Richmond County and the town of Port Hawkesbury struck a Strait of Canso offshore wind task force two years ago.

One of its missions is to create an offshore wind centre of excellence for research and development that can grow the industry.

Officials there say that's how Europeans developed their offshore wind industry.

Parsons, who recently visited Denmark to meet industry officials, said it's not a competition and CBRM's task force could be modelled after the Strait's.

He said the offshore wind industry in Europe is 30 years old and ports there often specialize in support of the industry as a whole.

"Let's not compete with each other," Parsons said. "Let's help support each other, so we all win."

CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke said he likes the idea of a local task force, but he first wants to find out what the provincial government's plans are.

"I think it's a timely suggestion that Coun. Parsons brought forward," he said. "It fits in with what the province is doing.

"The question is do we get ahead of ourselves or do we ask the province, who are coming to meet with us, what's their process, so we can complement that."

Clarke said officials with the Energy Department are expected to meet with council in the coming weeks and one of the topics will be how Nova Scotia Power's plants and transmission equipment could be affected by the new source of electricity.

Tyler Mattheis, CEO of the Cape Breton Partnership, said his organization is ready to create a CBRM offshore wind task force.

He said aside from local government and business officials, there is interest in offshore wind in Sydney harbour from European public- and private-sector players.

"This industry is one that's going to be built over the next five to 25 years, with potentially turbines in the water in the early 2030s at the best, so now is the time to talk about supply chain," said Mattheis.

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