In a few weeks, Nova Scotia will welcome the first demonstration turbine to the most advanced grid-connected, in-stream tidal array site in the world.
Over the summer, two turbines will be deployed off the shores of Parrsboro in the Bay of Fundy, where tidal changes are recorded as the highest in the world. The project demonstrates Nova Scotia’s commitment to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and provide a significant contribution to cutting GHG emissions and meeting Canada’s climate-change targets.
Two gigantic turbines will soon be immersed in the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy where, if all goes well, they will begin generating electricity for the Nova Scotia power grid later this summer.
Next weekend, the first of two 16-metre-diameter turbines that look like components from oversized jet engines will begin a two-week journey by barge from a shipyard in Pictou – on the north side of Nova Scotia facing Prince Edward Island. It must travel around Cape Breton Island because it is too big to go through the Strait of Canso, the channel that lies between Cape Breton and the mainland. Essentially, it will have to circumnavigate the province to reach the Bay of Fundy.
At the entrance to the Minas Basin, near the town of Parrsboro, it will be submerged into a waiting “berth” at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE), the site that was established to test large-scale in-stream tidal turbines and connect them to the power grid.
They flank the bay that is home to the highest and strongest tides in the world, but for hundreds of years Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have struggled to channel the awesome might of the Bay of Fundy into tidal power.
However, the next generation of projects is set to launch and onlookers say it's time for the tide to turn.
The Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA) announces the release of a new report summarizing the tidal-energy related research undertaken in the Bay of Fundy since 2007. The report comes in advance of Nova Scotia’s first grid-connected tidal turbines, scheduled for deployment in 2016.
The Nova Scotia Tidal Research Summary Report, authored by Dr. Graham Daborn of Fundy Environmental & Educational Consultants, offers a high level assessment of the environmental studies and regulatory initiatives that have been conducted in the lead up to the first grid-connected technology demonstration.
Nova Scotia’s largest commercial fishing industry association plans to take their concerns about tidal energy testing straight to federal Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo, the Chronicle Herald has learned.
“We feel we deserve the attention of the minister and to voice our concerns on tidal energy with him immediately,” Bay of Fundy Inshore Fisherman’s Association spokesman Colin Sproul said after a meeting with West Nova MP Colin Fraser.
Sproul said he asked Fraser to organize a meeting in Ottawa with Tootoo, Hants-Kings MP Scott Brison and Cumberland-Colchester MP Bill Casey.
