The Canada Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations
The Canada Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations (CORER) came into effect on December 16, 2024, and operationalized Part 5 of the Canadian Energy Regulator Act (CER Act) by establishing comprehensive safety, security and environmental protection requirements for offshore renewable energy (ORE) projects and offshore power lines in Canada’s federally regulated offshore areas.
The Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations – Accord Acts
Similar to Part 5 of the CER Act, amendments to Part 3 of the Accord Acts provide the legislative framework for oversight of the full life cycle of ORE projects, providing the authority for the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator (CNSOER) and the future Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator (C-NLOER) to issue authorizations for any work or activity related to ORE projects in the Canada-Nova Scotia and Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador offshore areas, respectively.
Regulations will be required to operationalize the amendments to Part 3 of the Accord Acts by establishing comprehensive requirements respecting work or activities related to ORE projects in the Canada-NS and Canada-NL offshore areas, for the purposes of safety and environmental protection. The future Regulations would closely align with the requirements set out in the CORER, which apply to ORE projects in the rest of Canada’s offshore areas, to promote consistency in application and implementation of regulatory frameworks applicable to ORE projects across all of Canada’s three offshore administrative areas.
As with the CORER, the proposed Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations will establish modern safety, security, and environmental protection regulations and standards that will apply to all phases of an ORE project lifecycle in the jointly managed offshore areas.
The proposed Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations are expected to be pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I in 2025, for public comment.
For more information
Please visit the following Natural Resources Canada webpage – The Offshore Renewable Energy Regulations Initiative.