Muskrat Falls, on the Churchill River in Labrador.PAUL DALY/The Globe and Mail
Nova Scotia government officials say a study to be released Thursday concludes that the Muskrat Falls project in Labrador is the cheapest option to meet the province's future energy needs.
The government commissioned a study last September that examined whether getting electricity from Muskrat Falls through subsea cables would be cheaper than getting it from wind turbines, natural gas plants or hydro dams in Quebec.
Government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity say the study found that shipping energy from sources other than Muskrat Falls was "significantly more expensive."
They declined to provide the difference in costs as reported in the study.
But they said the report ranked the import of electricity from Quebec as Nova Scotia's second cheapest option.
They say the study projected costs over a 35-year period, which is the life of the commercial agreement on Muskrat Falls between Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown corporation Nalcor Energy and Nova Scotia private utility Emera.
The $85,000 untendered study was conducted by John Dalton, president of Power Advisory in Carlisle, Mass.