All FERN News

WWF-Canada today launched Renewables for Nature, a new interactive decision-making tool to help identify regions with high renewable-energy potential and comparatively low conflict with nature. The tool aims to speed the transition to a low-carbon future while ensuring key habitats and ecosystems thrive for wildlife and communities.
   
This tool, applied in New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy region to start, overlays renewable energy and conservation data on the same map for the first time in Canada. The energy layer reveals renewable energy reserves: the resource potential for each energy type across the region. The conservation layer captures data on 728 species at risk, as well as detailed information on biodiversity, habitat and other conservation and community environmental uses for the entire area.

The Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia and France Energies Marines have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on tidal energy research projects.

The aim of the MoU is to improve technologies and applications for tidal energy in the Bay of Fundy and off the coast of France, the partners said.

The report covers forecast and analysis for the wave and tidal energy market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2014 along with a forecast from 2014 to 2020 based on both volume (MW) and revenue (USD Million). The report also offers detailed competitive landscape of the global wave and tidal energy market. It includes company market share analysis, product portfolio of the major industry participants. The report provides detailed segmentation of the smart cities market based on energy type segment and region. Wave and tidal are the energy type segment of this market. There is no single dominant technology in the wave or tidal energy market. Both wave and tidal energy are capable of producing extensive benefits of economies of scale.

Major regional segments analyzed in this study include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. This report also provides further bifurcation of region on the country level. Major countries analyzed in this reports are U.S., Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. Wave and tidal energy market was dominated by Europe in terms of capacity installations for wave and tidal stream power plants due to strong development of power plant in respective region. Additionally, Asia Pacific is expected to have high growth in the tidal energy sector.

Canada is working on new rules for regulating offshore renewable energy projects, currently a patchwork of laws and procedures that can cause friction between producers and local communities.

The federal government is working on a set of comprehensive rules for approving and monitoring offshore energy projects and a single regulatory board to oversee them.

It's reviewing similar legislation in United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and the United States.

Exceeding last year’s attendance record, almost 400 people crammed into the Dr. Carson and Marian Murray Community Centre for the opening address Sept. 22, of the symposium that will focus on the region’s fledgling renewable energy sector. In attendance were high school attendance from across the region and it was pointed out on more than one occasion the work being done now to develop these renewable energy sectors is for their futures.

“By developing green energy we believe we can keep our people right here and even bring back those in Alberta through job creation,” Cumberland County Chief Administrative Officer [CAO] and Cumberland Energy Authority President Rene Bugley said.