Ottawa commits C$100M to Nova Scotia offshore wind ahead of 2027 bid call

Ottawa has committed C$100 million to advance offshore wind development in Nova Scotia, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson announced in Dartmouth on October 15, 2026. The money is meant to help secure the private investment needed to move projects like the province's Wind West initiative "from concept to development," Natural Resources Canada says.

Only C$5 million of the commitment is itemized: it goes to buoys carrying floating lidar (FLiDAR) to measure offshore wind speeds and ocean conditions, data meant to help proponents prepare for the call for bids that the department says the Canada–Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator will launch in winter 2027. Natural Resources Canada is also giving Net Zero Atlantic nearly C$3 million to extend its transmission modelling to Quebec, Ontario and beyond and to survey cable routes, without saying whether that grant counts toward the C$100 million. Neither government's release breaks down the rest.

Nova Scotia says the work will "help lay the foundation for Wind West and support Nova Scotia's goal of licensing up to five gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030." Its release calls the money a "federal-provincial partnership worth $100 million," though the C$100 million is the Government of Canada's and the province names no dollar figure of its own.

Winter 2027 is later than Ottawa's own schedule said. The Major Projects Office's Wind West page, last modified May 21, 2026, still expects the first offshore wind call for bids "in the latter half of 2026," following a prequalification and call for information that closed on January 13, 2026. Nor is this Net Zero Atlantic's first Wind West transmission money: the page records nearly C$5 million from Natural Resources Canada in February 2026 for a pre-feasibility project on transmission options.