At the start of 2025, Atlantica’s team made a few bold predictions about where Atlantic Canada’s energy story was headed. Now that the year has wrapped, we can look back to see how we did.
This is your 2025 wrapped, only less Spotify and more Energy.
Indigenous partnerships and collaboration:
Our prediction: We said partnerships with Indigenous communities would be a big focus.
Reality: This one was a big hit.
What we saw in 2025 was a powerful jump forward, seeing Indigenous partnerships and co-ownerships at the foundation of most new energy projects across Atlantic Canada. A landmark example of this progress was the Canada Infrastructure Bank investing in the Nova Scotia to New Brunswick (Wasoqonatl) Reliability Intertie project, a new 160 km transmission line, for which the Wskijinu’k Mtmo’taqnuow Agency Ltd. (WMA) as an equity partner. The WMA represents all 13 Mi’kmaw First Nations in Nova Scotia. Other examples highlighting the growing role of Indigenous partnerships and collaboration were demonstrated by the sold-out 2025 Atlantic Indigenous Led Energy Symposium and the Marine Renewables Canada 2025 conference in Halifax, which featured a dedicated Indigenous Business Pavilion. It feels like 2026 will see consultation continuing to give way to an era of co-creation and shared economic opportunity.
Energy security:
Our prediction: We foresaw a renewed emphasis on energy security, speculating it might even reignite considerations about developing natural gas.
Reality: This one was also a hit, although it hasn’t peaked.
Concerns about energy imported from the United States and challenges to meet growing demand for electricity and natural gas led to energy security being a hot topic in the news, especially leading up to colder months in late 2025. All provincial electrical utilities are working to expand generation capacity and/or imports, including renewables and conventional fuels. On Prince Edward Island, for example, electrical utilities are planning for the possibility of rolling outages depending on winter weather. NERC also highlighted the Maritime region’s winter capacity challenges. Similarly, there are continuing concerns about the availability of importing additional natural gas to the region during the winter months. Read Energy Security 101 for more information.
Worker shortage:
Our prediction: We warned that a shortage of skilled workers would become an impediment to growing the region’s energy sector.
Reality: This was only half right. We spotted an incoming problem.
Throughout the year, industry and political leaders consistently framed major energy projects, like the massive proposed Wind West offshore wind development, as tremendous job creators for the future. The emphasis was on the coming need for “thousands of good jobs” in everything from transmission lines to turbine manufacturing. While the alarm bell was rung loudly, the race to massively scale up training, apprenticeships, and skilled trades migration is still in its early laps. This is a problem that must be addressed when investments are made in transformative energy projects across the region.
US-Canada relations:
Our prediction: We were optimistic that the vital Canada-U.S. trading relationship would “make amends” and find renewed strength by year’s end.
Reality: This, as we all know, was a miss.
Instead of smoothing over, the trade divide between the United States and Canada feels as large now as ever in recent memory. The Centre hopes for a swift resolution to this trade uncertainty, while Atlantic Canada looks to foster new energy trading relationships to build on the longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with the Northeastern United States. Read Energy Trade 101 or watch for more information.
Atlantic Canada’s voice in Ottawa:
Our prediction: We forecasted that the four Atlantic provinces would unite behind a single energy vision for Ottawa.
Reality: This one is still being decided. The batter is at the plate and primed to hit a home run.
With nation building projects in mind, the Atlantic provinces have made pitches for an Eastern Energy Partnership and Wind West, which is being considered by the Major Projects Office. In December, the Atlantic Premiers met and jointly agreed to invite the Prime Minister to work with them on an agenda to unleash the region’s potential in energy and critical minerals. Atlantica and other energy sector stakeholders are pushing provinces to form a unified voice and vision for the region’s future energy sector, where collaboration happens with resource planning and operations to help maximize value for ratepayers while expanding the growth potential for new projects.
Takeaways for 2026
In the end, 2025 hasn’t been the year of dramatic turnarounds the Atlantic team predicted. It was the year of foundations, which did set the stage for the real work: turning these plans, partnerships, and political agreements into the projects that will power Atlantic Canada’s future.