The federal government blew into Halifax Thursday morning to announce $100 million to advance offshore wind development in Nova Scotia.
Tim Hodgson, the federal minister of energy and natural resources, along with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, made the announcement on Thursday morning in Dartmouth, calling the offshore wind project a transformative economic opportunity.
The Atlantic Ocean and the shorelines off Nova Scotia are recognized as having some of the strongest winds in the world and represent a source of abundant clean energy, and something that can be exported from the province and across the country, and even further south into the United States.
The project is referred to as Wind West and, geographically speaking, while it’s located on the East Coast of Canada, the idea is that it will send power and clean energy west, to the rest of Canada.
It’s a Nova Scotia-lead initiative and a key component of the Atlantic Energy Strategy, which was referred to the federal Major Projects office in September 2025 and focusses on developing energy projects that can benefit the Atlantic provinces.
The $100 million announced Thursday will go towards spurring development and securing major investments to move the Wind West project from a concept into development, said Hodgson.
“Nova Scotia’s world-class, wind and highly skilled offshore workforce, developed through the legacy of offshore oil and gas, give Canada a competitive advantage in the potentially $1 trillion global offshore wind market,” he said.
“We will unlock Atlantic Canada’s massive potential by accelerating offshore wind development and strengthening Nova Scotia’s position as a supplier of reliable, affordable and clean energy to customers in the province and across Canada.”
Before the offshore wind turbines can be built, companies who are interested in investing will need reliable data and information about the ocean and wind conditions, said government officials.
That’s why $5 million from the overall funding will go towards the deployment of floating light detection and range finding mounted buoys that can measure offshore wind speeds and detect ocean conditions, that will help prepare for the call for bids, which is expected to go out early in 2027.
The federal government is also providing an additional $3 million to Net Zero Atlantic to expand their existing modelling to include transmission of offshore wind power from Nova Scotia into Quebec, Ontario and beyond, in order to help with transmission cable routing.
Houston, who is also Nova Scotia’s energy minister, said the announcement is a major step forward in making the province a global leader in offshore wind energy development.
“Nova Scotia is no longer at the end of the energy transmission line,” said Houston. “We are the starting point.”
Houston says the collaboration between the provincial and federal governments is allowing them to unlock a generational economic opportunity that will attract investment and create good paying jobs and strengthen the economy.
“We aren’t just protecting our own grid,” said Houston. “We are powering Canada.”
Government officials estimate that over the full lifetime and span of the Wind West project it will help create more than 17,000 jobs.
The majority of the $100 million will go towards the province and federal government for research and sub-sea work to determine the best places to drill boreholes to analyze the seafloor and find the best sites for future wind platforms.
“What we’re doing now is working with the province to determine where those boreholes will be drilled, because that will influence the kind of bids we get back,” said Hodgson, who confirmed that work will be completed over the next year.
Government officials say calls for bids for construction of the offshore leases and the construction of wind turbines will go out to tender in early 2027.
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