New Brunswick
NB Power; New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board
Open but non-committal: the utility says it can handle a specific 190 MW request but wants flexible, interruptible load, not firm baseload commitments.
0MW
energized in New Brunswick
0 with published capacity
Publishes a project-level list. Yes, but it is Not comparable to AESO's Connection Project List, and the differences are the ones that matter. NB Power posts a page called 'Interconnection Study Statistics' (linked from the TSO Data page) carrying three PDFs. The most recent vintage is dated 2026-01-31 (file metadata shows it was produced 2026-05-21). Verified 2026-08-02. The published tables carry application date, completion date, county, MW and project type, and mark load separately from wind, solar, battery and generation. They do not name the applicant or the site, so a reader can see that a 200 MW load in Saint John was reviewed but not who is behind it. It is a record of studies completed, not a queue of projects waiting.
The record
- Operator detail
- NB Power (New Brunswick Power Corporation), confirmed. There is no independent system operator; the New Brunswick System Operator was folded back into NB Power in 2013. Connection approval sits with "NB Power – System Operation" (Nbp-so), acting as Transmission Provider under the NB Open Access Transmission Tariff (Oatt, current version effective 2023-01-01) and the Electricity Business Rules.
- Route to power
- A 100+ MW data centre follows two parallel tracks, both run by NB Power. There is no separate large-load tariff and no data-centre-specific process. Track 1, Connection assessment (Electricity Business Rules, Appendix B "Connection Assessment Procedure", Version 02, effective 2023-12-31). Named stages, in order: 1. Project definition / design by the applicant. 2. Feasibility review, mandatory. Form B-01 "Application for Feasibility Review for Generation and/or Loads". Non-refundable application fee: $5,000 plus taxes for projects at this scale (also $5,000 for point-to-point service requests over 100 MW; zero for small projects). Includes a "determination of need".
- Typical timeline
- No end-to-end application-to-energization timeline is published by NB Power or the province. What IS public: Rule-book targets (Appendix B Part 5, all explicitly non-binding, "the Transmission Provider's obligation is general diligence rather than specific timelines"): Feasibility Review "typically expected to be complete within two weeks of a completed application"; System Impact Study "typically ...
- Binding constraint
- There is NO formal cap, NO moratorium and NO block-allocation process for data centre load in New Brunswick as of 2026-08-01. Nothing resembling Alberta's 1,200 MW interim cap or Quebec's allocation calls exists. That absence is itself the finding, and it has been tested twice in 2026: - 2026-06-11/17: Green MLA Megan Mitton moved a resolution for an immediate moratorium on big data centres. The government refused; when Mitton sought unanimous consent to extend the sitting to force a vote, Liberal members shouted "no" and the House adjourned without voting.
- Behind the fence
- Yes, and in New Brunswick self-supply is currently the faster and legally cleaner half of a hybrid project. The Lorneville proposal is built on exactly this: of ~390 MW total, ~190 MW comes from an on-site VoltaGrid natural gas plant and ~190–200 MW from the NB Power grid. Beacon AI's Joseph Shovlin told a public meeting the project has a fallback if NB Power will not supply: "This gentleman here will provide the power and we'll be totally disconnected." The statutory position (Electricity Act, S.n.b.
- Interconnection
- No formal large-load queue or moratorium is published. The clearest live test case is the proposed Lorneville (Saint John) data centre (VoltaGrid/Beacon AI Centers, Verified as an existing, well-sourced project row in this dataset) seeking 380-390 MW total: ~190-200 MW behind-the-fence gas generation plus a grid request. NB Power has stated it is not alarmed by the request but wants flexibility/interruptibility.
- Tariff
- No data centre-specific tariff exists. The pending Rate Design Application would end the declining-block discount for new large industrial customers if approved; approval status not confirmed.
- Years to grid power
- n/a, no end-to-end figure published; feasibility review alone has run a median of 4.2 months
- Years behind the fence
- 2-4
- Basis for those years
- Grid figure: NB Power publishes no end-to-end connection timeline, confirmed 2026-08-02 against its own connection page, where the only load-facing artefact is form B-01, the Application for Feasibility Review. What it does publish is the completed reviews. In the 31 January 2026 edition, 15 completed reviews are marked Load, totalling 925 MW, with a median application-to-completion time of 127 days, 4.2 months, across a 46 to 286 day range. The longest is the most recent large one: a 200 MW load in Saint John took 286 days. That is the first study stage only, not time to power, and nothing downstream of it is published. BTF figure: 2-4 years, from the Lorneville case, which remains at the request stage.
Dated events
- Miramichi city council pauses its proposed zoning bylaw amendment that would have permitted data centres and battery energy storage in Heavy Industrial zones, and cancels the public hearing scheduled for 2026-08-04, directing staff to seek expert opinion and p…
- The province formally rules out a data centre ban but signals unspecified limits on future development. Spokesperson Jennifer MacNeil states, "These centres are essential to Canada's future, especially in supporting data sovereignty," and, "Data centres will be need to be designed and operated in a manner that does not put additional pressure on the electricity grid or rate payers."
- The Holt government refuses the data centre moratorium. Mitton's resolution never reaches a vote, when she seeks unanimous consent to extend the sitting to 6 p.m. to force one, Liberal members shout "no" and the House adjourns.
- About 150 protesters rally at the New Brunswick legislature on June 11, 2026 against the 390 MW Lorneville data centre project. They support Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton's resolution calling on the Holt government to stop development of big data centres until it passes legislation ensuring they will not increase the price of electricity, hurt communities or harm the environment. When Mitton sought unanimous consent to extend the sitting for a vote, several Liberal members refused, the legislature adjourned without voting, and the House began its summer recess the next day.
- Government of New Brunswick releases the NB Power Comprehensive Review Action Plan, 50 recommendations, 44 accepted, 6 requiring further analysis. Two matter for large loads.
- New NB Power Rate Schedules and Policies take effect following the NBEUB decision in Matter EL-003-2025 (2026-27 General Rate Application).
- Effective date of NB Power's most recent Interconnection Study Statistics posting (three PDFs: Feasibility Reviews Completed, System Impact Studies, Summary Statistics; file metadata shows production on 2026-05-21).
- NB Power chief commercial officer Brad Coady sets out the utility's commercial position on large loads: it will seek agreements requiring data centres to shut down or run solely on their own on-site generation or storage during peak demand.
Tracked projects
| Project | Status | Announced | Energized | Target online |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint John AI Data Centre (Spruce Lake Industrial Park / Lorneville) | Announced | 390 MW | Not stated | 2028 |
Announced capacity is what the proponent has stated. Energized capacity is what is drawing. They are different figures and are never summed. How the figures reconcile.
Sources
- NB Power Electricity Business Rules — Appendix B, Connection Assessment Procedure (Version 02)
- NB Power TSO — Interconnection Study Statistics (index page)
- NB Power TSO — Feasibility Reviews Completed (31 January 2026)
- NB Power TSO — System Impact Studies (31 January 2026)
- NB Power TSO — Summary Statistics, interconnection studies (31 January 2026)
- NB Power TSO — Connection page (Nbp-so manages all load and generation connections; Form B-01)
- NB Power TSO — Data page (load forecast, 10-Year Transmission Plan, interconnection studies)
- NB Power 10-Year Transmission Plan
- NB Open Access Transmission Tariff (current version)
- NB Power Rate Schedules and Policies (Large Industrial Rate N-4; data centre eligibility at 750 kW)
Known gaps. Things Could not establish from public sources, stated plainly. 1. Application-to-energization. No New Brunswick source, NB Power, NBEUB or government, publishes an end-to-end timeline for a large load. I can give NB Power's own study-stage averages (401 / 112 / 299 days for feasibility, SIS and facilities studies in Q4 2025) and one real feasibility-stage datapoint (286 days for the 200 MW Saint John load), but the interval from connection agreement to energized service is unknown.
Record updated 2026-08-01. Sources reviewed 2026-08-02. Corrections: sam@mccordinvestments.com