Natural Resources Canada launched the Offshore Wind Predevelopment Program in 2023 (the ‘OWP Program’) to capitalize on Canada’s offshore wind potential off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The OWP Program is composed of complimentary initiatives:
Offshore Wind Indigenous and Coastal Communities Grant Funding
Following the successful launch of Round 1, resulting in 17 projects approved for grant funding totalling $350,000, a further $320,000 in grant funding remains to be allocated under this current Round 2 Call for Proposals.
Atlantic Canada Offshore Wind Integration and Transmission Study
Led by Net Zero Atlantic, this work aims to inform different potential pathways for offshore wind in the Atlantic region. The complete findings of the multi-year effort can be found here, Atlantic Canada Offshore Wind Grid Integration and Transmission Study | Net Zero Atlantic, which includes a visual interface, all the study reports, and webinars.
Regional Marine Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation
The largest element of the OWP Program involves leveraging government-led science resources across numerous Federal departments to lead the collection of project agnostic (regional) data in the areas of geoscience, marine wildlife, habitat and ecosystems, commercial fisheries and oceanography. This work is intended to expand public knowledge related to identified Wind Energy Areas and support offshore wind regulatory reviews.
Through new investments in Natural Resources Canada’s Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS), new geoscience data has been collected, including approximately 7,500 square kilometres of new multibeam coverage across all four Designated Wind Energy Areas (WEA) by CHS alone.
The GSC has led active data collection investigations involving nineteen separate expeditions since mid-2023, collecting nearly 800 new samples including sediment cores, cone penetrometer tests, photos and moorings, tens of thousands of kilometres of sub-bottom profiler data, and hundreds of thousands of hectares of new bathymetric mapping. A detailed account of their activities to date can be found here:
-
In addition to the above publication, GSC presented a series of webinars through Marine Renewables Canada (MRC) starting in May 2026, covering in detail the work they have undertaken in the WEAs. Specific information sessions were held, with links to recordings available below:
Complementing the geoscience data collection, NRCan launched a procurement to help interpret much of the new data collected by GSC and CHS.
- Geotechnical Risk Assessment for Offshore Wind in Nova Scotia (Request for Proposal closed October 2025).
The OWP Program is also providing support for a variety of wildlife and habitat campaigns, led by, and in coordination and consultation with, DFO and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). Through these new investments, the following new data collection campaigns and research activities were launched, and will continue through until March 31, 2028 at the completion of the OWP Program:
- Monitoring marine mammals in Wind Energy Areas using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and oceanographic moorings: a multi-pronged approach
- Aerial surveillance for marine megafauna in proposed offshore wind areas
- Predicting marine life impact from wind farm construction noise
- Mapping biodiversity and ecosystem services of benthic communities
- Hydrodynamic changes due to offshore wind energy development (in collaboration with CanmetENERGY-Ottawa)
- Habitat use and oceanographic sampling by grey seals in wind energy areas
- The impacts of future offshore wind development on DFO scientific fisheries surveys – A scoping exercise
- Assessment of cetacean occurrence in and around proposed offshore wind energy areas based on currently available data
- Joint marine mammal and seabird vessel survey(s) in proposed wind energy areas in Nova Scotia (First-ever jointly coordinated and executed marine mammal and seabird survey between DFO and ECCC)
- Baseline characterization of fish movement and biodiversity on the Scotian Shelf to inform offshore wind development
In addition to the above new activities, in 2025 DFO published a 2025 manuscript entitled “Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3312” (DFO WEA Manuscript). This publication was intended to aggregate existing data and knowledge held by DFO and related to each WEA.
Other relevant DFO datasets are linked in the Canadian-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator’s Wind Energy Area Spatial Data Viewer.
Lastly, preliminary results and data from the OWP Program were recently presented at the Net Zero Atlantic Offshore Wind Readiness Forum.
Contact us
Please contact us for questions concerning the OWP Program at: