The Provincial Government provided an update on its multi stage process to enable wind generation in Newfoundland and Labrador. This follows the announcement from April 2022 of lifting the moratorium on wind development, creating an opportunity for industrial customers to wind energy for their own consumption and wind generation for export.
In order to ensure a fair transparent for all interested parties, the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology is launching a call for the submission of Nominations of Areas of Interest for wind energy projects in the province. The call is only for any available Crown Lands within the province. Interested respondents are not limited are not limited to a geographic for given submission, or in number of submissions. A guidelines document is available. Nominations will close on Saturday, October 1 this year.
Following assessment of the land nominations received, a competitive land bid process will be launched this year. While some companies may already submited a requit for crown lands have been approved and will not be awarded until a competitive bid process occurs. More information will be available in the coming weeks.
In addition, companies are required to register wind development projects for environmental assessment, however, an environmental assessment approval does not mean that the project will proceed.
The Provincial Government launched the Provinces Energy Renewable Plan in December 2021. One of the short-term commitments in the plan was to review the wind moratorium policy on the Island Interconnected Electricity System. This was an initial step in the multi-stage process to enable wind generation in NL.