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NS Power Facts and History

Facts about NS Power
  • We provide 95 per cent of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Nova Scotia.
  • We serve 490,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers.
  • Nova Scotia Power employs 1,900 dedicated, safety-focused professionals.
  • We manage $4 billion worth of generation, transmission and distribution asset.
  • We produce more than 13,000 gigawatt hours of electricity each year, with generating capacity of 2,368 megawatts through power plants province-wide.
  • We have a fleet of five thermal, one tidal and 33 hydro plants, as well as four combustion turbines, two wind farms and two additional wind turbine sites.
  • We use a fuel mix including hydro, tidal, wind, coal, oil and natural gas to generate electricity.
  • Nova Scotia Power delivers power with 31,600 km of transmission and distribution lines.

NS Power History

1885
  • First electric street light in use
1919
  • Nova Scotia Power Commission incorporated
1920
  • First NSPI hydro system constructed on St. Margaret's Bay
1936
  • 1,200 customers connected to the power grid
1954
  • Average customer uses 1,360 kilowatt hours of electricity per year
1960
  • Power utilities in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick connect, a first in inter-provincial cooperation
1961
  • 100,000 customers connected to the power grid
1965-69
  • Five new power plants (250 megawatts) are added to the grid
1973
  • Nova Scotia Power Commission and Nova Scotia Light and Power Ltd. amalgamated to form Nova Scotia Power Corporation
1978
  • Wreck Cove hydro plant added to grid, increasing hydropower capacity to 400 megawatts
1984
  • The first and only North American tidal plant, Annapolis, comes online
1992
  • Nova Scotia Power privatized in the then-largest Canadian equity transaction
2002
  • First NS Power wind turbine installed at Grand Etang
2004
  • Average residential customer uses to 6,000 to 9,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year

2005

  • 460,000 Nova Scotian homes and businesses connected to the power grid
  • 60 megawatts of renewable energy added to the grid
 2010
  • First NS Power wind farms at Digby Neck and Nuttby Mountain become operational. Wind Farm at Point Tupper also completed with 49% stake by NS Power
  • Coal drops to 65% of electricity generation from 2006 peak of 80%
 2011
  • Wind generation reaches single-day peak of 250 MW or 20% of total electricity generation on April 24. On an average windy day, 10-15% of electricity in Nova Scotia can be generated by wind
2015
  • 25% of Nova Scotia's electricity generation to come from renewable sources
2020
  • 40% of Nova Scotia's electricity generation to come from renewable sources