ew Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir manages a busy schedule these days. Keeping up with the latest alternative power project fills up his time.
      During a recent interview with Site Selection magazine, which Keir gave while en route to the grand opening of the Kent Hills Wind Farm near Moncton, the government official outlined an aggressive agenda of renewable energy projects.
      Solar, wind, tidal, nuclear and hydrogen fuel cell projects are all being planned or built in New Brunswick – and that doesn´t even include all of the energy investments being made in this Atlantic Canada province.
      Thanks to a provincial policy requiring further investment into renewable power sources, New Brunswick is rapidly transforming itself into a national and global leader in alternative energy.
      The Kent Hills project is just one example. The US$200-million wind farm, owned and operated by TransAlta, consists of 32 three-megawatt wind turbines, making it one of the largest wind farms in all of Canada. New Brunswick Power purchases the electricity generated by the farm, enough to power 17,000 homes. Future plans call for the addition of 18 wind turbines.
      "Our renewable portfolio standard in New Brunswick calls for 10 percent of our total generation by 2010 for all public utilities to come from wind power in the province," says Keir. "Our government pushed the envelope. We pushed up the target date from 2016 to 2010. We will have 400 megawatts of wind power by next year."
      Kent Hills benefited by receiving $29 million in federal assistance through the ecoENERGY for Renewable Power Program. The $1.5-billion fund provides a one-cent-per-kilowatt-hour incentive for up to a decade.
      A recent wind study of New Brunswick revealed that the province has the ability to generate up to 42,000 megawatts of power from wind, although it´s unlikely that it would ever reach that capacity.
      Still, Keir likes what he sees when he looks around the province. If it´s not a new wind farm going up, it´s a solar plant or hydrogen fuel cell initiative.
        Umoe Solar of Norway is mulling a $600-million manufacturing plant for photovoltaic cells in Miramachi. The construction hinges on whether Umoe AS, the parent company, gives final approval to build the plant.
      "Umoe looked at more than 100 different locations around the world," says Keir. "They chose New Brunswick primarily for our business climate, tax structure and human resources. Our government is setting up a climate to ensure that large corporations want to come here."
      The plant would be a boon for an area of northeastern New Brunswick hit hard by the downturn in the forestry sector. With many of the area´s pulp mills closing in recent years, the 350 potential jobs at the Umoe plant would represent high-wage positions in an economy that needs them.
      Ernst Andersen, human resources manager for Umoe, told Site Selection that he could not comment in June for this article, but his earlier published remarks indicated that at least 60 of the positions would be highly skilled technical personnel with engineering or metallurgy degrees. He also indicated that the plant, which would be built in a converted paper mill, could grow to as many as 600 or 700 total employees.
      "It is the vision of our government that the way forward for our province is through the alternative energy sector," Keir says. "Our leaders saw that opportunity and seized it."
      Wind and solar won´t be the only sources either, the energy minister notes. "We have 15 sites along the Bay of Fundy that we are analyzing for tidal power," he says. "There are something like 88 different types of technology with tidal energy, and the private sector is very interested in this because the tides rise and fall 24 to 36 feet every day here on the Bay of Fundy."
      That is thought to be the highest vertical tidal range in the world, although researchers in Quebec and the United Kingdom dispute that contention. Still, it´s enough to make Keir ponder the powerful possibilities.
      "The challenge with tides is that they are not exactly like wind," he notes. "With wind, you know what you´re getting. With tidal power, it´s not an exact science, at least not now."
        What is a sure thing, however, is the research and development work taking place at HSM Systems in Fredericton. The company that specializes in the storage of hydrogen within light metal hydrides employs five researchers full-time and has another 17 under contract at the University of New Brunswick.
      "Our company was founded in 2005 to do research into metals and hydrides," says Chris Willson, president of HSM. "By 2007, our co-founder, Dr. Sean McGrady, had demonstrated that he could store hydrogen in a number of aluminum-based alloys. It made sense to put more support behind the research and establish the company here in Fredericton."
      The university plays a pivotal role in supporting HSM´s work, says Willson, who spent 10 years with the Energizer Battery Co. before launching his current venture. "There is still some very important research going on in hydrogen, which would lead to converting hydrogen back into electricity through a generator," he says. "We have discovered that we can get a steady output from a turbine, and we are hoping to build those turbines in New Brunswick to form a new method of renewable power generation."
      HSM is building its renewable power system but will soon need to find space to establish a factory, notes Willson. "We are talking to several New Brunswick companies to see if there is synergy for a joint venture," he adds. "We are seeking money through different venture capital firms as well. Already, several companies have signed letters of intent to buy our products. All we have to do now is build a manufacturing plant."
      Willson, who is from the U.S., says he chose to live in New Brunswick in 2007. "I really enjoy the city of Fredericton. This is a very nice place to live with a great lifestyle," he says. "It is a very friendly community, and the community offers a lot of support. The government has been very helpful too. Back in the U.S., you don´t typically get the type of support personally and for the company that you get in Fredericton."
        Lacking no support whatsoever is the Canaport LNG project in Saint John. The $1-billion terminal officially began operations in June after years of development work and represents the first liquefied natural gas regasification plant in Canada.
      A joint venture of Repsol and Irving Oil, the project will have an initial send-out capacity of one billion cubic feet, or 28 million cubic meters, of natural gas per day. The product will be transported via the $450-million Brunswick Pipeline some 147 kilometers from Saint John to St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and Baileyville, Maine.
      "It has been a three-year construction process, with 1,600 workers on site at peak," says Caroline VanDerveen, communications manager for Canaport LNG. "This has been good for the region. About 85 percent of the workers have come from the greater Saint John area. We will be making a special announcement once the first tanker arrives from Trinidad and Tobago."
      The first two storage tanks are ready for operation, says VanDerveen, noting that the decision has been made to build a third one. "As we got into the project, it made sense to build the third tank," she says. "That brought the project to the $1-billion mark. That will come online the first quarter of 2010, but we will be operational with the first two tanks in June."
      "VanDerveen says the jetty infrastructure for the port project "was a huge feat, and it came in on budget and on schedule. Overall in terms of the managing partners, Repsol and Irving Oil, they are very pleased with this entire project. It has been very successful."
      Those words are music to the energy minister´s ears. "Our premier has challenged our department to work with companies and promote economic development in New Brunswick," says Keir.
      And he´s not slowing down. His next project? Nuclear energy, he says. "We have one 635-megawatt nuclear power plant already, and we are looking at building a second one of 1,100 megawatts," he says. "That would be on Point Lepreau."
      The existing Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station was built between 1975 and 1983. It is the only nuclear facility in eastern Canada. AECL and its partners want to build a second unit to supply power to New England.