Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Power; Nova Scotia Energy Board (formerly NSUARB, transferred 2025-04-01)
Not actively pursuing data centres: the Premier says the file does not exist yet and won't until offshore wind is built.
0MW
energized in Nova Scotia
0 with published capacity
Publishes a project-level list. Qualified yes, a project-level large-load list exists, but it is far thinner than AESO's and is not a queue. What exists: Table 8, 'Large-Load SIS', in IESO Nova Scotia's 2026 10-Year System Outlook Report (published 26 Jun 2026), section 5.2.2. Three fields only: anonymised project code, peak demand (MW), county. Verified 2026-08-02: Nova Scotia Power's published Generator Interconnection Procedures cover generation only, at transmission (69 kV and above) and distribution (26.4 kV and below). No equivalent procedure, queue or list is published for load. The entry point for a large load is a Large Load Preliminary Assessment, requested through Nova Scotia Power's business channel rather than through an interconnection queue.
The record
- Operator detail
- Correction, it is no longer Nova Scotia Power alone. Three bodies split the role, and the technical gatekeeper changed hands in 2025-26: (1) IESO Nova Scotia (Independent Energy System Operator), created by the More Access to Energy Act, SNS 2024 c.2 Sch. B.
- Route to power
- There is a named written process, and it is Not the Generator Interconnection Procedures. The GIP is generation-only. Named process: the NSPI Bulk Power Facilities Connection Guide, document NSPI-TPR-002-4, dated 25 Aug 2025. The Transmission System Interconnection Requirements v1.3 (21 Feb 2025) s.3.1 directs traffic explicitly: "All Load Interconnection Requests to the NSPI Transmission System shall follow the bulk power Facilities Connection Guide." Steps: 1. Contact NS Power Customer Care Centre. Routed to an Interconnection Engineer, who decides distribution vs transmission connection. A 75-100+ MW load is transmission (69 kV and above); loads under ~1 MW stay with a Regional Engineer.
- Typical timeline
- Unknown, not publicly stated, and this is a real absence rather than something I failed to find. Read the full Bulk Power Facilities Connection Guide NSPI-TPR-002-4 (25 Aug 2025) and the Transmission System Interconnection Requirements v1.3 (21 Feb 2025) and searched both for any duration language (days, weeks, months, "within N"). Neither document states a single deadline or study duration for a load connection.
- Binding constraint
- No formal cap and no allocation process, and that is itself the finding. Nova Scotia has nothing equivalent to Alberta's 1,200 MW interim cap or Quebec's block allocation calls. There is no moratorium, no queue cap, no data-centre allocation call, no large-load tariff. The binding constraint is physical scarcity plus political unwillingness, mediated by an undefined process. 1. System scale. Nova Scotia's all-time record system peak was 2,459 MW on 25 Jan 2026. A single 100 MW data centre is ~4% of provincial peak; the 325 MW IRL01 request is ~13%.
- Behind the fence
- Partly established. The rules are clear at small scale and unclear at the scale in question. What is clear: - The as-of-right threshold is tiny. Electricity Act (SNS 2025 c.18 Sch.) s.7(1): a customer may, "as of right, with no requirement to participate in a Nova Scotia Power program, install a renewable low-impact generator or energy storage device with a total nameplate capacity of 27 kilowatts or less." Above 27 kW you fall into a utility program under s.6, which NS Power must maintain for customers installing a generator "with a nameplate capacity of more than twenty-seven kilowa…
- Interconnection
- There is no dedicated data centre connection process, tariff, or moratorium in Nova Scotia as of mid-2026. Large industrial or commercial loads connect through Nova Scotia Power's standard process. The government's public position, stated by the Premier in mid-2026, is that data centres are not an active priority.
- Tariff
- No data centre-specific tariff exists or is proposed. Thin by necessity.
- Years to grid power
- n/a, no active large-load data centre framework or queue exists to size a timeline against
- Years behind the fence
- n/a, not addressed in any sourced policy
- Basis for those years
- Sourced material is limited to a Premier's public statement (June 2026) that data centres are 'not a today thing, not even a tomorrow thing.'
Dated events
- IESO Nova Scotia publishes the 2026 10-Year System Outlook Report. Section 5.2.2 and Table 8 disclose nine large-load System Impact Studies totalling ≈854.6 MW (IRL01-IRL10, IRL07 absent), the only project-level large-load disclosure in the province.
- The premier of Nova Scotia says his government is not actively pursuing data centre projects, and he would only support such an endeavour if the province could fully supply the energy a data centre needs. Premier Tim Houston said, "There wouldn't be a commitment to a data centre unless we could fully supply the energy without any risk to Nova Scotians. It would only be something that would be done safely and would benefit Nova Scotians."
- IESO NS/NSPI publish the current OASIS interconnection queues (Combined T/D Advanced Stage, Active Transmission, Active Distribution). Every row is Wind, Solar, Tidal, Battery or Gas Turbine, no load entries.
- IESO Nova Scotia publishes 2026 Integrated Resource Plan Assumption Set 1 (revised). Large Loads Base case: 'No significant new industrial loads beyond already announced projects.' Data centres appear only in the High sensitivity: 'Increased demand from new in…
- NS Power 2026-2027 General Rate Application rates take effect (NSEB approved 25 Mar 2026): average increases of 1.2% in 2026 and 2.5% in 2027.
- Nova Scotia sets an all-time record system peak of 2,459 MW, exceeding the prior record of 2,455 MW (4 Feb 2023). Establishes the scale against which a 75-325 MW load must be judged.
- NSEB Renewable to Retail Implementation Hearing, regulatory work to make the retail supply market operational. Despite it, as of 5 Jun 2026 the RtR market still has one participant (Renewall Energy Inc.) and no pending applicants.
- NSEB approves the NS-NB Reliability Intertie (second 345 kV AC line to New Brunswick), filed 10 Apr 2025 by Wasoqonatl Transmission Incorporated. Anticipated in service Q4 2028. Roughly 3.5 years filing to energization for a major transmission asset.
Sources
- IESO Nova Scotia — 2026 10-Year System Outlook Report (s.5.1.1 load interconnection requirements; s.5.2.2 and Table 8 Large-Load SIS; Table 1 load forecast; Table 7 NS Obps standards; s.3.3.2 planning reserve margin)
- Nova Scotia Power / IESO NS OASIS — Generation Interconnection Procedures, with Combined T/D Advanced Stage Interconnection Request Queue and Active Transmission Interconnection Requests (generation/Bess only; no load rows)
- NSPI Bulk Power Facilities Connection Guide, NSPI-TPR-002-4 — the named load connection process (s.3.1 point of contact, s.3.2 information required, s.3.3 preliminary review, s.3.4 System Impact Study, s.3.5 Facilities Study); no timelines stated
- Nova Scotia Power — Transmission System Interconnection Requirements v1.3 (s.3.1 all Load Interconnection Requests follow the Facilities Connection Guide; s.3.2 studies; s.7.8 transmission load customers; s.11.0 customer pays all upgrade and line-extension cost)
- IESO Nova Scotia — 2026 IRP Stakeholder Session, Assumption Set 1 (revised): Large Loads Base = no significant new industrial loads; High = data centres and mining; record system peak 2,459 MW on 25 Jan 2026
- More Access to Energy Act, SNS 2024 c.2 Sch. B (s.10(1)(d) IESO transmission interconnection studies and generation interconnection procedures; s.56-58 NSPI transition obligations and non-transmission-level interconnection)
- Electricity Act, SNS 2025 c.18 Sch., as amended by 2026 c.5 ss.2-5 (s.6 customer generation programs above 27 kW; s.7(1) 27 kW as-of-right self-generation; ss.18-19 Renewable to Retail and retail supplier licensing; s.24(12) 1,140 MW designation cap)
- Nova Scotia Power Tariff Book, May 2026 (Large General Tariff at 2,000 kVA / 1,800 kW and over; Extra Large Industrial Active Demand Control Tariff exclusive to Port Hawkesbury Paper at Point Tupper; Load Retention Tariff 'not available for new load'; Renewable to Retail Standby, Energy Balancing and Market Transition tariffs)
- Nova Scotia Power OASIS — Renewable to Retail (one market participant, Renewall Energy Inc.; 'No Applicants' pending)
- Nova Scotia Power — Forecasts & Assessments (10-Year System Outlook, 10-Year Monthly Load Capacity & Resources Assessment, 18-Month Load and Capacity Forecast, Annual Transmission Plan — all aggregate, published by IESO NS)
Known gaps. These could not be established from public sources and are published as unknowns rather than guesses. 1. Timeline, genuinely unpublished. Neither the Bulk Power Facilities Connection Guide (NSPI-TPR-002-4, 25 Aug 2025) nor the Transmission System Interconnection Requirements v1.3 (21 Feb 2025) contains a single stated duration or deadline for any load study step. Searched both full texts for duration language and found none.
Record updated 2026-08-01. Sources reviewed 2026-08-02. Corrections: sam@mccordinvestments.com