BILL NO. 145
(as introduced)
1st Session, 65th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
4 Charles III, 2025
Private Member's Public Bill
Virtual Power Plant Act
The Honourable Iain Rankin
Timberlea–Prospect
First Reading: September 25, 2025
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act to Enable Virtual Power Plants
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Virtual Power Plant Act.
"Board" means the Nova Scotia Energy Board;
"customer" means a person who is supplied electricity by an electricity distributor;
"demand-response" means mechanisms to reduce or shift electricity usage of customers in response to price signals, grid reliability needs or other system requirements;
"distributed energy resource" means small‐scale electricity generation or storage located close to customers, including solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and heat pumps;
"electricity distributor" means a person who owns, operates, manages or controls any plant or equipment for the transmission or delivery of electric power or energy, either directly or indirectly, to or for the public, as regulated by the Public Utilities Act;
"electricity generator" means a person who generates electricity, whether or not for sale to others, including through distributed energy resources;
"energy storage" means any method of storing energy for later use, including batteries, thermal storage and pumped-storage hydroelectricity;
"Independent Energy System Operator" means the Nova Scotia Independent Energy System Operator established by the More Access to Energy Act;
"Minister" means the Minister of Energy;
"virtual power plant" means a coordinated network of electricity generation, demand-response or energy storage, or a combination thereof, in multiple locations, managed via communications or smart‐grid technologies, that is aggregated to act as a single resource for the purpose of operating in an electricity market or providing system or grid services.
3 (1) No person shall operate a virtual power plant in the Province unless that person is licensed under this Act to carry on that activity.
(2) The Board shall license the operation of virtual power plants upon application, subject to such terms and conditions as the Board considers appropriate.
4 A licensee under this Act may, subject to its licence and the regulations,
(a) aggregate generation, demand‐response and energy storage resources across multiple customers;
(b) bid aggregated capacity and energy into the electricity market;
(c) provide system services to the grid, including frequency regulation, voltage support, reserves, ramping and grid stability services;
(d) coordinate with electricity distributors and the Independent Energy System Operator to ensure reliability and safety of the grid; and
(e) enter into contracts with customers respecting participation, compensation, measurement, verification of performance and penalties where applicable.
5 (1) A virtual power plant licensee shall obtain explicit informed consent from any customer whose load, generation or storage is to be aggregated into a virtual power plant.
(2) A contract between virtual power plant licensee and customers must set out
(a) the nature of participation, such as demand‐response and storage curtailment;
(b) compensation, payment terms and timing of payment;
(c) responsibilities and obligations of both parties, including notice requirements, the duration of the contract and requirements for termination of the contract;
(d) data collection, privacy and cybersecurity terms;
(f) penalties, if any, for non‐performance.
6 (1) A virtual power plant licensee shall comply with Provincial and federal privacy laws regarding customer data.
(2) The Board may establish or adopt regulations or standards governing the cybersecurity of communications, control and measurement systems used in virtual power plants.
7 The Board shall ensure that market rules, tariffs or rates applicable to electricity distributors, electricity generators, storage providers and customers are fair and do not create undue barriers to the participation of virtual power plants.
8 (1) The Minister, in consultation with the Board and the Independent Energy System Operator, may make regulations to adjust or create new rate structures or incentives supporting virtual power plants, such as time-of-use rates and demand‐response payments.
(2) The exercise by the Minister of the authority in subsection (1) is a regulation within the meaning of the Regulations Act.
9 (1) The Minister may make regulations respecting standards and requirements relating to
(a) metering, measurement, verification, and reporting;
(b) interconnection of distributed resources;
(c) safety, performance and reliability for aggregated resources; and
(d) definitions of service levels.
(2) The exercise by the Minister of the authority in subsection (1) is a regulation within the meaning of the Regulations Act.
10 (1) The Board may investigate compliance with this Act, the regulations and the conditions of a licence.
(2) In the case of failure to comply with this Act, the regulations or the conditions of a licence, the Board may issue orders, impose fines and suspend or revoke licences.
(3) The maximum penalties and processes for enforcement are as prescribed in the regulations or by the Board under its enabling powers.
11 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) respecting processes for the enforcement of this Act, the regulations and the conditions of a licence;
(b) prescribing maximum penalties that may be imposed for non-compliance with this Act, the regulations and the conditions of a licence;
(c) prescribing conditions for a project continuing to operate as permitted by Section 12;
(d) respecting any matter or thing the Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to effectively carry out the intent and purpose of this Act.
(2) The exercise by the Governor in Council of the authority in subsection (1) is a regulation within the meaning of the Regulations Act.
12 Notwithstanding subsection 3(1), any project operating before the coming into force of this Act may apply for a licence under this Act and, subject to the regulations, may continue to operate under existing terms until a licence is issued under this Act.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2025 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created September 25, 2025. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.
