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Moncton to MiramichiNew BrunswickThe IssuesEnergy & Environment
Brad Coady told Tantramar council the Centre Village site poses fewest challenges for a proposed generation facility
Published Dec 18, 2025 • Last updated 4 days ago • 4 minute read
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Brad Coady, NB Power’s vice-president of business development and strategic partnerships, told Tantramar council at a presentation on Wednesday there was no ideal site for a proposed 500 megawatt gas-powered plant, but Centre Village posed the fewest challenges. Photo by Sarah Seeley/Brunswick NewsArticle content
A senior NB Power executive acknowledged Wednesday night “there’s likely going to be an impact” on well water in the Sackville region if a proposed natural gas power plant goes ahead.
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“You can’t drill a well and expect to say it’s not going to be an impact,” said Brad Coady, the utility’s vice-president of business development and strategic partnerships, at a crowded, two-hour special meeting of Tantramar council.
Last week council voted in favour of a motion that, in part, declared opposition to the construction of a 500-megawatt generating station in Centre Village. The province and NB Power have said the facility is needed to meet electricity demand, which Coady previously told the legislature is at risk by 2028.
In an op-ed piece, the president of proponent ProEnergy, John MacIsaac, further argued the gas-fired plant is necessary to provide grid stability as the province adds more renewable power. Adding wind power alone, he wrote, “makes the grid more fragile.”
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Yet there has been local backlash to the gas plant from residents and environmentalists over various concerns, including threats to endangered species, carbon emissions, pollution, and water contamination.
Coady said it was up to ProEnergy to mitigate impacts to groundwater, telling council the company has been recently drilling to test water resources at the site and will have to put forward a plan as part of the environmental impact assessment currently underway.
Even if the project clears the assessment, it will still have to be approved by the province’s Energy and Utilities Board. Hearings are scheduled in Moncton from Feb. 9 to 13.
Water impacts were only one of the topics lobbed at Coady Wednesday night, with Mayor Andrew Black having to remind residents to leave their signs out of council chambers and refrain from disruptions during the presentation.
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“It is safe to say the views of the people in the room are collectively the views of council,” he said.
Coady said of the process: “It’s regrettable that it causes angst. It can be emotionally and politically charged.”
He echoed comments by Premier Susan Holt last week, who told reporters the province was trying, but so far had failed, to find an alternate workable site for the plant.
Coady said NB Power scoured the province looking for a suitable location and pointed out that Scoudouc had been considered as a site for the facility, but about a year ago officials began to realize there were problems with that site.
Brunswick News previously reported Scoudouc was ruled out because it would require substantial transmission lines, had watercourses and would require a Fisheries Act authorization that would delay the project by 18 months, as well as the evidence of endangered pileated woodpecker nests.
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Coady referred to the Fisheries Act authorization, as well as opposition from First Nations to the Scoudouc site, in his presentation.
He said that even though there is no ideal site for the plant, Centre Village posed the fewest challenges. It also lies at an intersection between the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline and NB Power’s transmission line, which removes the need to make any major extensions to the transmission line or pipeline.
Deputy Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell asked why the facility was not called a “peaker plant.”
Coady said the plant would be there to meet peak demand, but would also be used for renewables integration. The facility would supply backup energy when renewables are not available.
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“I describe it as a Swiss army knife that our system doesn’t have today,” he said.
Coun. Josh Goguen asked why battery storage had been discounted as an option for the facility. This is an alternative that has been pushed by local environmental groups and Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton.
Coady responded by saying they ran into technical and financial challenges when looking at battery storage. Batteries need to be charged and there would need to be an abundance of renewable energy and a more reliable solution than batteries alone, he said.
“If we could have accomplished this with a battery instead of a gas plant, 100 per cent that would have been the solution,” he said.
He noted NB Power has had discussions with battery product developers and is currently soliciting for battery projects.
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“We’ve got to figure out a way to get a battery project to work in New Brunswick,” he said.
Black questioned Coady about why NB Power didn’t give the municipality any advance notice of their July 14 press release announcing the project. He noted council would have appreciated even a phone call or email days prior to the announcement.
“There is a level of distrust and it escalates when things like that happen,” said Black.
Coady responded that “hindsight is 20-20” and he called it a “miss” that Tantramar wasn’t notified before the project was made public.
He said the decision to place the proposed project in Centre Village was not solidified until June, a month before the project was announced.
“We made mistakes in terms of how we communicated this project to you, your council, your community and all,” Coady said. “That’s what I would definitely characterize as one of those hard lessons learned that we need to do better next time.”
NB Power will hold a public meeting in the area on Jan. 14.
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