NUTTBY – If a proposed Nuttby wind farm fails or sustains cost overruns Nova Scotia Power  Inc. customers could be faced with covering the shortfall, warns the consumer advocate.
“The risk of the investment is on the shoulders of ratepayers,” John Merrick wrote in his submissions to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.
“If it turns out that the Nuttby project is inefficient or expensive to maintain it is the ratepayers who will pay through rates.”
Nova Scotia Power purchased the development rights from EarthFirst Canada Inc. in April after the Calgary firm fell into financial difficulties.
It plans on erecting 22 turbines, constructing a new substation and transmission interconnection at a cost of $120 million.
Now the board has to make a decision on approving the utility’s application to begin construction. The board has received written submissions from Avon Group, Cape Breton Explorations Ltd., Nova Scotia’s Department of Energy, NewPage Port Hawkesbury Corp. and Bowater Mersey Paper Company Limited, the Municipal Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative and Scotia Investments Limited.
“The numbers NSPI uses in their estimates are simply not acceptable as they are unreliably optimistic, and shift all risks onto the ratepayers,” wrote Luciano Lisi, president of Cape Breton Explorations Ltd. “If NSPI is certain of their numbers then they can have the project built by their mother company Emera Inc. at a complete risk to their shareholders...”
Some of the submissions also raised questions concerning NSPI’s application to be able to resell a portion of the facility, if needed, to comply with Nova Scotia’s renewable energy standards.
“(Nova Scotia’s Department of Energy) believes that the request for prior approval of a possible divestiture of the Nuttby Mountain wind project is premature,” wrote Stephen McGrath.
There is also $14 million in federal grant money that is on the line.
“Obviously, NSPI’s estimated energy cost is based upon numerous assumptions and complex projections,” McGrath wrote. “It would appear that the cost to ratepayers under NSPI’s proposal are quite a bit better than they would have been had the Nuttby Mountain project proceeded as originally conceived in response to the 2007 (request for proposal).”