The province welcomes news that the largest
in-stream tidal device now in operation in North America has been successfully
installed in the
Bay of Fundy.
On Nov. 12, Nova Scotia Power and its
technology partner OpenHydro installed their turbine in the Minas Passage area
of the
Bay of Fundy, about 10 kilometres west
of Parrsboro.
"Today is a great day in the history of
Nova Scotia,"
said Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks. "Tidal energy offers Nova Scotians
many opportunities -- new jobs, cleaner energy and the use of resources we have
in our own backyard. That's the dream, and the tidal project team have
dedicated themselves to help make it a reality."
"Thanks and congratulations to
OpenHydro,
Nova
Scotia Power, Cherubini, and the many other partners
and people involved in FORCE -- the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy --
including our own government staff."
"Today begins a very important period
of testing that we believe will demonstrate that tidal energy can be part of
Nova Scotia's renewable energy future," said Rob Bennett, president and
CEO of Nova Scotia Power. "Working with OpenHydro, we are proud to be the
first to deploy and test a commercial-scale tidal turbine in the
Bay of Fundy and look forward to the
learnings ahead."
The province has contributed $9 million
towards the tidal power project.
This includes $2 million for independent
research, and $7 million from ecoNova
Scotia
for Clean Air and Climate Change for shared development costs.
All tidal devices installed at the project
site must adhere to strict environmental conditions and monitoring. The site,
managed by FORCE, has approval to operate three different tidal devices.
The province has set a target of 25 per cent
renewable electricity supply by 2015. Tidal energy has the potential to make a
small contribution towards this target, with a potentially expanded role in
future years. Research suggests a potential resource in the Minas Passage area
of up to 300 megawatts -- enough to power about 100,000 homes.
This is OpenHydro's largest device in
operation in the world, and together with the sub-sea base built by Cherubini
Metal Works in
Dartmouth,
will be roughly six storeys high.
