Member News: New report highlights major opportunities for Atlantic Canada’s wind energy supply chain growth

April 17, 2025
Member News: New report highlights major opportunities for Atlantic Canada’s wind energy supply chain growth

Atlantic Canada, home to some of the world’s strongest offshore and onshore wind resources, is ready to drive clean energy growth and support emissions reduction targets through new projects, according to the findings of the Atlantic Wind Energy Supply Chain Assessment. 

Commissioned by Marine Renewables Canada (MRC) with support from the Nova Scotia Department of Energy and the Prince Edward Island Energy Corporation, and executed by Xodus Group and their team of local consultants, the report reveals significant opportunities for regional businesses to participate in the growing renewable energy sector.

With existing onshore wind and more projects in advanced development plus tremendous offshore wind potential, across the Atlantic provinces, the region is gaining momentum. This growth is driven by rising global demand for renewable energy and emerging green hydrogen opportunities.

The report underscores the region’s strengths in offshore and onshore wind energy development and provides clear recommendations for expanding the supply chain to maximize local economic benefits. However, strategic investments in supply chain development and workforce training will be necessary to ensure local businesses can fully capitalize on these opportunities and meet the scale of projected demand.

Key findings

  • Growing workforce demand: Depending on development scenarios, offshore wind projects could generate up to 6,000 jobs at peak times under a medium scenario, while onshore wind projects could generate up to 5,000 jobs at peak times under the same scenario.
  • Supply chain strengths: Atlantic Canada has a skilled workforce and established companies in areas such as marine operations, logistics, and environmental consulting, making it well-positioned to support both onshore and offshore wind projects. Among the 1,070 companies assessed for offshore wind, approximately 21%–28% were identified as ‘highly applicable,’ meaning they have direct experience and relevant products and services to meet the growing demand for new projects. Similarly, for onshore wind, about 22% of the 950 companies evaluated fell into same category, with another 100 companies showing great potential to enhance their capabilities to meet the industry needs.
  • Opportunities for Indigenous participation: Indigenous businesses and organizations bring unique strengths such as land stewardship, community engagement, sustainable practices, and have strong potential for project equity participation and supply chain contributions. The report found that 16% of assessed companies in the Atlantic Canada are diverse- or Indigenous-owned enterprises, highlighting a strong foundation for inclusive growth.
  • Addressing gaps: While the region has notable strengths, additional investment in infrastructure, workforce training, and specialized manufacturing will further enhance the local supply chain’s competitiveness. Recommendations include leveraging existing supply chain strengths, strengthening industry ecosystem support, encouraging supply chain diversity, supporting Indigenous involvement, expanding workforce training programs, improving access to wind energy jobs, fostering policy support for local economic benefits, increasing industry awareness, and driving innovation.

More Information

→ Access the Executive Summary and the full Atlantic Wind Energy Supply Chain Assessment here.

Marine Renewables Canada will be hosting public sessions in each Atlantic province from April 23-28, 2025 to share the results of the report and provide information about opportunities for local businesses and suppliers in the wind energy supply chain. For more details and to register, visit: www.marinerenewables.ca/events.

 Quotes

“The Atlantic Wind Energy Supply Chain Assessment highlights the incredible potential of Atlantic Canada’s offshore and onshore wind energy sector and the opportunities it presents for local businesses. With strategic investments and collaboration, we can establish a robust supply chain that benefits communities and accelerates our clean energy goals.” – Elisa Obermann, Executive Director, Marine Renewables Canada

“With onshore and offshore wind, we have tremendous potential to create green jobs, attract investment and make the move to clean energy. There are opportunities all along the supply chain for these sectors that are making good use of our natural resources and making our region more energy secure.” –  The Honourable Trevor Boudreau, Nova Scotia Minister of Energy

“As Prince Edward Island continues to invest in wind power and we work to become a cleantech hub for the region, the Atlantic Wind Energy Supply Chain Study is helping to identify our regional strengths, give advice on addressing gaps, and giving us a guidebook to our next steps.” – The Honourable Gilles Arsenault, Prince Edward Island Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action

“With a strong contingent of existing experience, paired with transferable capabilities from companies in adjacent sectors, Atlantic Canada is well positioned to capitalize on its immense wind resources. As well as the potential for significant green job creation, there is also a significant opportunity for the region’s existing businesses to diversify and access new revenue streams. Xodus and the project team are hopeful the recommendations in this report will help to inform and drive the development of a wind energy supply chain in Atlantic Canada.” – Delia Warren, Lead Renewables Consultant, Xodus Group

 About Marine Renewables Canada

Marine Renewables Canada is the national association for tidal, offshore wind, wave and river current energy, representing technology and project developers, suppliers, utilities, Indigenous organizations, researchers, and communities. We strive to champion Canada’s growing marine renewable energy sector through advocacy, engagement, and education and expand market opportunities across the country and globally. Learn more at www.marinerenewables.ca.

Get in touch

AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

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AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables
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Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
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The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy
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Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall
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Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise