Nova Scotia
Green Choice Program

Nova Scotia Green Choice ProgramNova Scotia Green Choice ProgramNova Scotia Green Choice Program

Nova Scotia
Green Choice Program

Nova Scotia Green Choice ProgramNova Scotia Green Choice ProgramNova Scotia Green Choice Program
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  • Updates
  • About
    • The Procurement
    • Timeline & Terms
    • Contact Us
  • For Proponents
    • Proponent Resources
    • Proponent Documents
    • Proponent FAQ
  • For Participants
    • Participant Resources
    • Participant Documents
    • Participant FAQ
  • For the Public
    • Public FAQ
    • How to Engage
  • More
    • Home
    • Updates
    • About
      • The Procurement
      • Timeline & Terms
      • Contact Us
    • For Proponents
      • Proponent Resources
      • Proponent Documents
      • Proponent FAQ
    • For Participants
      • Participant Resources
      • Participant Documents
      • Participant FAQ
    • For the Public
      • Public FAQ
      • How to Engage
  • Home
  • Updates
  • About
    • The Procurement
    • Timeline & Terms
    • Contact Us
  • For Proponents
    • Proponent Resources
    • Proponent Documents
    • Proponent FAQ
  • For Participants
    • Participant Resources
    • Participant Documents
    • Participant FAQ
  • For the Public
    • Public FAQ
    • How to Engage

Updates

11/16/2023 - For Participants: GCP Applications Opening

Natural Resources and Renewables (NRR) are pleased to let you know that we anticipate being able to start accepting Participant applications for the Green Choice Program starting December 15, 2023. Important dates can be viewed on the Timeline and Participant Resources tab of the GCP Website. 


This program has been years in the making, and we appreciate your continued support and enthusiasm. 

New or revised participant resources will be uploaded to the Green Choice Program website to support your application, on or before December 15, 2023 – including guides and forms, such as:

  • Participant Application Guide – include detailed information to assist applicants in their efforts to complete the application.
  • Participant Application Form - template form for application including fillable PDF and excel spreadsheets required for NRR’s consideration. A webinar will be scheduled to walk through the guide and form to assist applicants in their efforts to complete the application.
  • Updated Program Guide – No program details have changed, but the guide will be updated with additional policy that the Minister may consider when deciding on applications received particularly if the program is oversubscribed. 
  • Updated Memorandum of Agreement for Grouping of Organizations (e.g. Aggregated Partnerships, Governments)– this will be updated to include language that makes it clear the lead organization may access electricity account information on behalf of the aggregate partners for the purpose of the application for Green Choice Program. 


You can find existing resources for the Green Choice Program here: https://novascotiagcp.com/participant-resources


Additionally, as you have questions please feel free to submit them directly through the website: https://novascotiagcp.com/participant-faq; the FAQ’s will be updated on a regular basis to ensure everyone benefits from the response to your question.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: Applicants are responsible for collecting and collating their organization’s electricity account information including service address for the facilities and buildings, customer number, customer electricity account numbers, and identifying the account holders and those authorized to access your electricity account information. Once you have completed this exercise to the best of your ability, please reach out to Nova Scotia Power no later than February 16, 2024 to request that they verify your account information. This step is requiredfor your application to be deemed complete. 

We encourage all interested Participants intending to apply to the Green Choice Program to contact Nova Scotia Power: greenchoice@nspower.cato let them know of your intention to apply to the Program. Please indicate if you are an authorized contact for the electricity accounts for your organization. 


Updated templates for documentation to support grouping of organizations will be available on the Green Choice Program website in time for the applications to open. This may apply to governments, aggregate partnerships, franchises, or other commercial or industrial businesses where electricity accounts may be paid separately from the lead organization applying on behalf of the grouping of organizations. 

8/30/2023- GCP Draft RFP, Draft PPA, RFI, & Feedback Forms

Natural Resources and Renewables (NRR) are pleased to let you know that we anticipate being able to start accepting Participant applications for the Green Choice Program starting December 15, 2023. This program has been years in the making, and we appreciate your continued support and enthusiasm. 

  

New or revised participant resources will be uploaded to the Green Choice Program website to support your application, on or before December 15, 2023 – including guides and forms, such as:


  • Participant Application Guide – include detailed information to assist applicants in their efforts to complete the  application.
  • Participant Application Form - template form for      application including fillable PDF and excel spreadsheets required for      NRR’s consideration. A webinar will be scheduled to walk through the guide      and form to assist applicants in their efforts to complete the      application.
  • Updated Program Guide – No program details have      changed, but the guide will be updated with additional policy that the      Minister may consider when deciding on applications received particularly      if the program is oversubscribed. 
  • Updated Memorandum of Agreement for Grouping of      Organizations (e.g. Aggregated Partnerships, Governments)– this will be      updated to include language that makes it clear the lead organization may      access electricity account information on behalf of the aggregate partners      for the purpose of the application for Green Choice Program. 

You can find existing resources for the Green Choice Program here: https://novascotiagcp.com/participant-resources


Additionally, as you have questions please feel free to submit them directly through the website: https://novascotiagcp.com/participant-faq; the FAQ’s will be updated on a regular basis to ensure everyone benefits from the response to your question.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: Applicants are responsible for collecting and collating their organization’s electricity account information including service address for the facilities and buildings, customer number, customer electricity account numbers, and identifying the account holders and those authorized to access your electricity account information. Once you have completed this exercise to the best of your ability, please reach out to Nova Scotia Power no later than February 16, 2024 to request that they verify your account information. This step is requiredfor your application to be deemed complete. 

We encourage all interested Participants intending to apply to the Green Choice Program to contact Nova Scotia Power: greenchoice@nspower.cato let them know of your intention to apply to the Program. Please indicate if you are an authorized contact for the electricity accounts for your organization. Due to privacy protection laws, if you are not currently an authorized contact for the electricity accounts included in your application for the Green Choice Program you must either.


Updated templates for documentation to support grouping of organizations will be available on the Green Choice Program website in time for the applications to open. This may apply to governments, aggregate partnerships, franchises, or other commercial or industrial businesses where electricity accounts may be paid separately from the lead organization applying on behalf of the grouping of organizations. 

8/24/2023 - GCP Draft RFP, Draft PPA, RFI, & Feedback Forms

 RFP/PPA Draft:

The Procurement Administrator (PA) is excited to announce that the Draft of the GCP Request for Proposals (RFP) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been released and is available for feedback. All documents and instructions for the feedback process can be found on the Proponent Documents tab. The feedback window is open from today until 5 pm AST on Thursday, September 21st. Please note that the PA will only accept feedback using the proper feedback channels (completion of the feedback form, shared to novascotia@cohoclimate.com).


RFI

Furthermore, the Proponent Request for Information (RFI) is also now available on the Proponent Documents tab. Proponents are required to submit an RFI to be considered for the GCP RFP, and RFIs must be completed and sent to novascotia@cohoclimate.com by 5 pm AST on Thursday, September 7th, 2023.


Interconnection Request

Proponents must submit their Interconnection Requests to NSP by 5pm AST on Thursday, September 7th, 2023 and finalize their Interconnection Request (i.e., the request is deemed valid by the NSPSO) by Thursday, September 21st, 2023. Any questions regarding Interconnection Requests and IFS submission should be directed to Mohit Agarwal <Mohit.Agarwal@nspower.ca)>.


Proponent FAQ

As a reminder, proponents can submit questions to the PA to be included in the Proponent FAQ at any time. Additionally, the most updated GCP Proponent/Participant Timeline can be found on the Timeline & Terms tab.

8/22/2023 - Green Choice Program (GCP) Webinar Follow-Up

If you were unable to attend the webinar or wish to reference it further, we have uploaded the webinar deck and recording to the “Participant Resources” section of the GCP website.


The Procurement Administrator wants to remind interested Proponents that the Request for Proposals (RFP) Draft, Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Draft, and Proponent Request for Information (RFI) and associated feedback documents will be released on the “Proponent Documents” section of our website August 24th. Feedback will be solicited until September 21st. As always, the most updated timeline can be seen on the “timeline” tab of our website, and all updates will be shared to the “updates” tab of our website.


Lastly, please be advised to “contact us”. The PA will provide an updated “Proponent FAQ” in the coming weeks with responses to questions asked during or after the webinar.  

7/31/2023 - Webinar + RFP/PPA Draft Release Timeline Update

The Procurement Administrator (PA) is writing to notify the GCP mailing list of updates regarding the Green Choice Program timeline. The PA has rescheduled the Proponent Webinar, the release of the Green Choice Program (GCP) Request for Proposals (RFP), Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Request for Information (RFI) and Interconnection Requests.


Webinar

The Proponent Webinar to discuss the RFP/PPA Drafts and Proponent bid submission timing will now be held on August 22nd, 2023 1:00pm – 2:30pm AST. If you have previously signed up for the webinar, the change should be reflected in your calendar. If you would like to register for the webinar, please do so here


If you are unable to attend, please share your questions for our Proponent FAQ here. The PA will record the webinar and upload it to the GCP website, alongside an updated Proponent FAQ on the “For Proponents” tab of the GCP website


RFP/PPA Draft

The draft of the RFP and PPA will be released to the “Proponent Documents” tab of the GCP website on August 24th, 2023. The RFP and PPA Draft feedback period will be between August 24th, 2023 – September 21st, 2023. 


RFI

The RFI will be released alongside the RFP and PPA drafts, on August 24th 2023. Proponents are required to submit an RFI response. The RFI response deadline is now 5pm AST on September 7th, 2023.


Interconnection Requests

Proponents must now submit their Interconnection request to NSPI by 5pm AST September 7th, 2023 and finalize their Interconnection Request (i.e., the request is deemed valid by the NSPSO) by September 21st, 2023. Any questions regarding Interconnection request submission should be directed to Mohit Agarwal <Mohit.Agarwal@nspower.ca)>.


As a reminder, proponents can submit questions to the PA to be included in the Proponent FAQ at any time. Additionally, the most updated GCP Proponent/Participant Timeline can be found in the “About” section of our website. Please note that any further updates to the GCP timeline will be circulated via this mailing list. 

7/26/2023 - Interconnection Requests for the GCP

One of the Minimum Criteria for participation in the RFP is the provision of Interconnection Feasibility Study (IFS) results from NSPI. In order to ensure that IFS results are received before the Proposal Submission Deadline (anticipated in Apr 2024), all Proponents who intend to bid are required to submit an Interconnection request by 5pm AST August 28th, 2023 and finalize their Interconnection Request (i.e., the request is deemed valid by the NSPSO) by September 11th, 2023. Any questions regarding IFS submission should be directed to Mohit Agarwal <Mohit.Agarwal@nspower.ca)>


The maximum Name Plate Capacity of a Project participating in the GCP is 150 MW. The Name Plate Capacity of the Project must be between 40% and 100% of the Name Plate Capacity in the Interconnection Feasibility Study as per the modifications permitted under section 4.4.1 of the GIP.

Furthermore, Proponents who intend to bid into the GCP are required to complete and return the Request for Information (RFI) by 5pm AST August 28th, 2023.


As a reminder, all updates regarding the GCP RFP can be found on the Updates tab of the GCP website. Please note that the Proposal Submission Deadline (and other key RFP milestones) are subject to change. Any changes to the anticipated timeline will be communicated via the GCP mailing list and the GCP website.  


Thank you again for your interest in the Nova Scotia Green Choice Program. Ahead of the milestones listed above, please be reminded to submit any questionsyou may have for our FAQ and register for our Proponent webinar.

7/19/2023 - RFP & PPA Draft Release + Webinar Timing

The Procurement Administrator (PA) is excited to announce that the Draft of the GCP Request for Proposals (RFP) and Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is set to be released on August 14th. All documents and instructions for use will be made available on the Proponent Documents Tab of the GCP website.


The following information regarding the RFP and PPA is pertinent to interested GCP Proponents (a proponent is an independent power producer who is interested in bidding into the GCP RFP). If you are an interested GCP Participant (a participant is a public or private organization who is interested in subscribing their electricity consumption to the GCP), please refer to the “For Participants” section of our website for updates.

Please see the timeline and details below regarding RFP and PPA Draft Release:


Thursday, August 10th

  • Proponent Webinar for GCP Stakeholders
    • The PA will host a webinar to review the contents of the GCP RFP and PPA, outline major changes from the Rate Base Procurement (RBP) RFP, as well as a procurement timeline for interested Proponents on Thursday, August 10th from 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM AST. The webinar will include a Q&A feature for webinar participants to ask questions. 
    • Register for the webinar here.
  • Proponent FAQ
    • Following the webinar, the PA will release an updated Proponent FAQ to the GCP website to share responses to questions asked during the webinar, as well as questions asked via website submission. 
    • As a reminder, GCP interested parties can ask questions regarding the GCP at any time through the “Contact Us” feature on our website. The PA will continue to update the Proponent FAQ and Participant FAQ throughout RFP drafting and program development.  


Monday, August 14th 

  • RFP and PPA Draft release to Proponent Documents Tab on website
    • Purpose: The RFP outlines the Minimum Criteria and Scored Criteria for evaluation of Proposals for Proponents interested in bidding into the GCP. The PPA is the contract Selected Proponents sign with Nova Scotia Power (NSP) upon being selected for the GCP. The PA is releasing the RFP and PPA drafts to solicit Proponent and public feedback on the RFP and PPA contents ahead of RFP and PPA issuance. 
  • RFP/PPA Feedback Window Open
    • Timing: The RFP and PPA Draft feedback windows will be open for 4 weeks upon RFP draft release, with feedback due by 5pm AST September 11th, 2023. The RFP will be issued in Q4 2023. Please note the PA reserves the right to amend timelines and the most updated timeline is available on the Timeline tab on our website.
    • Process: Interested parties can submit feedback on the RFP and PPA drafts through the RFP and PPA Draft Feedback Templates which will be made available on the Proponent Documents tab of our website alongside the RFP and PPA drafts. Instructions on how to submit feedback will be attached.
  • Request For Information (RFI) Submission Window Open
    • Proponent RFI Description: Proponents interested in bidding into the GCP RFP are encouraged to submit a nonbinding RFI to indicate interest and share project details with the PA. The RFI will be used to anticipate RFP bid information and guide the interconnection process.
    • Timing: The RFI submission window will be open for 2 weeks upon release, with form submissions due by 5pm AST August 28th, 2023. 
    • Process: The RFI will be available for download on the Proponent Documents tab on our website for proponents to fill out and submit to us via email (novascotia@cohoclimate.com). 


Thank you again for your interest in the Nova Scotia Green Choice Program. Ahead of the milestones listed above, please be reminded to submit any questions you may have for our FAQ and register for our Proponent webinar.

5/1/23 - Proponent / Participant FAQ Upload + EOI Reminder

Proponent and Participant FAQ 


The Procurement Administrator (PA) has uploaded a Participant FAQ and a Proponent FAQ to the GCP website. This document will be updated every few weeks as more questions are received. As a reminder, these questions are solicited through the “Contact Us” form on the GCP website as the PA is not engaging directly with potential Participants or Proponents currently. We kindly ask that you indicate whether your question is for our Participant FAQ or Proponent FAQ (or both) when submitting a question.


EOI Reminder


If you are interested in participating in the GCP, please complete the Participant Expression of Interest (EOI) by 5pm on May 12, 2023. The EOI is an interest form that will help the PA, NRR, and NSPI better understand GCP participation. This form is non-binding, so best estimates regarding your facility load are acceptable and encouraged. If you’d like more context on the EOI and GCP Participant process, please view the Participant Webinar and Participant Guide on the “Participant Resources” section of the GCP website.

4/19/23 - GCP Participant Guide + EOI/FAQ Reminder

GCP Participant Guide


The Procurement Administrator has published a draft Participant Guide for the GCP, attached to this email and viewable on the “Participant Resources” section of our website. The Participant Guide provides an overview of GCP Participant Eligibility and the Enrollment Process.  Please note that the Participant Guide is currently a draftand will continue to be updated as program information becomes available. The Green Choice Program regulations are currently under review and subject to approval. As such, the information contained within that Participant Guide is subject to change.


EOI/FAQ Reminder


The Procurement Administrator would like to remind potential participants that the Participant Expression of Interest (EOI) remains open until May 12, 2023. The EOI is a non-binding interest form for potential GCP subscribers to share information regarding their organization’s needs and preferences.


Additionally, the Procurement Administrator would like to remind potential participants that questions about GCP participation are being addressed in an upcoming Participants FAQ to be published to our website. This FAQ will continue to be updated on our website throughout the procurement. Please submit any questions to be addressed in the FAQ by contacting us. 

4/12/23 - Updates for Interested Participants

If you were unable to attend the webinar, please find the slides on our website. A recording of the webinar will be available shortly. We would also like to share the following updates:


For Participants:

A participant is a large corporate energy user or government institution who is interested in subscribing their electricity consumption to the GCP.


  • If you are interested in participating in the GCP, please fill out the Expression of Interest (EOI) by May 12th. This form is a non-binding interest form for potential participants to share information regarding their organization’s needs and preferences.
  • We are developing a  Participant Guide to provide additional details on program eligibility, the participant subscription process, and more. We will notify the GCP mailing list once the Participant Guide has been finalized. This guide, and any other Participant resources will be uploaded to the Participant Resourcespage of our website. 
  • We will be providing answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding participation in the GCP. All FAQ responses will be uploaded to the Participant FAQ page of the GCP website.  If you have any questions regarding the GCP, please respond to this email with your inquiry to be included in the FAQ. Please allow 48 hours for us to confirm receipt of your question.


For Proponents:

A proponent is an independent power producer who is interested in bidding into the GCP Request for Proposals (RFP).


  • The Procurement Administrator is currently drafting the GCP RFP and anticipates sharing the draft for Proponent feedback in Q3 of this year. The RFP will be published to the Proponent Documents pageof the GCP website.
  • The Procurement Administrator and NRR intend to host proponent specific webinars throughout the RFP drafting process to share updates and gather your feedback. We will announce any upcoming webinars through the GCP mailing list and on the Webinars page of the GCP website. 
  • We will be providing answers to Frequently Asked Questions regarding bidding into the GCP RFP. All FAQ responses will be uploaded to the Proponent FAQ page of the GCP website. If you have any questions regarding the GCP, please respond to this email with your inquiry to be included in the FAQ. Please allow 48 hours for us to confirm receipt of your question.


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