NEWFOUNDLAND, NOVA SCOTIA POWER LINE WORKING

Nova Scotia is exporting power to Newfoundland. Electricity is being carried via the new Maritime Link, two 170-kilometre subsea cables laid across the Cabot Strait last year. The 500-megawatt link will eventually send power to Nova Scotia from the Muskrat Fall hydro project in Labrador. But with Muskrat Falls delayed, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, a subsidiary of Nalcor Energy, is importing power. Nalcor says the imports will save up to $ 50,000 a day at peak demand times in the colder months, offsetting more expensive fuel burned at its Holyrood generating station. “We now have the ability to import energy over the Maritime Link that is cheaper than burning oil to generate power at Hydro’s Holyrood plant — meaning Hydro can use less oil,” Nalcor said in a statement Tuesday. The $1.6-billion Maritime Link — which connects Newfoundland to the North American energy grid for the first time — was laid last year and first tested in December. The Muskrat Falls hydro project is running two years behind schedule and $4 billion over budget.