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Tufts Cove power station to undergo $43M overhaul

   NewTaryn Grant
   | CBC News | Posted: April 17, 2026 8:11 PM | Last Updated:
   Just now

   Engines attached to well-known smokestacks in Dartmouth are
   past their prime

   Image | Tufts Cove

   Caption: The Tufts Cove generating station in Dartmouth was
   built in the 1960s. (Robert Short/CBC)
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   Nova Scotia Power is planning to overhaul generating equipment
   at the iconic Tufts Cove power station on the edge of Halifax
   harbour.
   This week, the Nova Scotia Energy Board approved the utility's
   plan to repair one of the plant’s gas turbine engines for just
   under $19 million and replace another for about $24 million,
   bringing the total project cost to around $43 million.
   The Tufts Cove station, built in the 1960s, originally ran on
   coal and heavy fuel oil, but it’s now powered by natural gas.
   Its three tall candy-cane-striped smokestacks in Dartmouth can
   be seen from many parts of Halifax Regional Municipality.
   The plant has three engines, running two at a time with the
   third held in reserve as a spare. According to Nova Scotia
   Power's submissions to the regulator, two of the engines are
   over 20 years old and past their prime.
   One engine was inspected in 2024 and the utility found it
   needed “major component replacement and refurbishment.” It took
   that engine out of operation.
   Last year, following an inspection of another engine, the
   utility determined “that continued long-term operation would
   pose a significant risk of catastrophic failure and collateral
   damage.”

Cost jumped

   Nova Scotia Power first pitched the projects to the energy
   board in 2024. At that time, the utility estimated the engine
   repair would cost $6 million.
   The company said that’s because the earlier estimate was made
   before the engine was disassembled for third-party inspection.
   After that was done, the project scope changed significantly.

   Image | tufts cove engines

   Caption: The engine room at the Tufts Cove power generating
   station in Dartmouth, N.S., is shown in an undated photo from
   the utility. (Nova Scotia Power)
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   The energy board attached two conditions to its approval
   because of concerns that Nova Scotia Power was not proactive
   enough in maintaining the machines or foreseeing the need to
   overhaul and replace them.
   The board ordered Nova Scotia Power to provide more evidence in
   any future applications related to this type of engine. And it
   ordered the company to submit a third-party engineering report
   on its operational practices for the engines.
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