All FERN News

Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has dismissed the application filed by the local fishermen group to review the decision by Nova Scotia’s Environment Minister, Margaret Miller, to approve the installation of tidal turbines in the Bay of Fundy.

The Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia (OERA) has recently funded four (4) tidal energy research projects under their Open Call Program.  OERA awards a maximum of $20,000 on its various Open Call Projects, where such funds are leveraged with financial support from others to cover the total project costs.  The following are the most recent winners: 

"Measuring the acoustic detection range of large whales using an autonomous underwater (Slocum) ocean glider to improve an acoustic whale alert system for use by the offshore marine industry in Atlantic Canada"

"Finite Element Analysis to assess fish mortality from interactions with tidal turbine blades"

"Real-time particle acceleration/particle velocity (PA/PV) measurement system evaluation in a tidal environment"

"Wake Characterization of an operational tidal turbine"

 

In their latest report, OES presents an updated international vision for ocean energy. The document presents the global state-of-the-art in ocean energy and predicts that the sector will directly create 680 thousand jobs and save 500 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2050.

The ICES Working Group on Marine Benthal and Renewable Energy Development (WG MBRED) and the Working Group on Marine Renewable Energy Development (WG MRE) are seeking to understand what determines which environmental impacts from offshore renewable energy development are perceived as most important by regulatory bodies and policy makers.

Researchers studying the environmental effects of tidal turbines in Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy are trying to answer one of the most important questions facing the technology: will fish and marine life in the Minas Passage steer clear of the turbines?