Ocean energy developer Sustainable Marine has delivered the first floating in-stream tidal power to Nova Scotia’s grid by harnessing the currents in Canada’s Bay of Fundy.
The milestone demonstrates that the Bay of Fundy has tidal resources to provide Canada with clean and predictable power.
Nova Scotia has allocated about 30MW of capacity via demonstration permits and berths at FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy) for developers to demonstrate their technology.
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“Achieving ‘first power’ to the grid from our new platform in Grand Passage signals a real inflection point for our business,” Sustainable Marine CEO Jason Hayman.
“It crystalises the journey we’ve been on, following almost a decade of rigorous research, development and testing. The project has enabled Sustainable Marine to gradually acquire skills and resources to deliver turnkey projects, including a multipurpose construction vessel called the Tidal Pioneer, and a suite of next-generation, remotely operated subsea installation machines supporting our novel Swift Anchors technology.
“It can be challenging to deliver these first-of-a-kind projects in highly energetic environments, but we have taken a staged and step-by-step approach to manage the technical risks and prove the ultra-low environmental impact of our technology. We are continuing to actively monitor for any interactions with marine animals, and will build up power production in stages, under the current constraints to operate during daylight hours…”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said: “Sustainable Marine Energy achieved a first in Canadian tidal energy history, delivering power from a floating platform in Grand Passage to Nova Scotia’s electricity grid. This project and others are positioning Nova Scotia as a global player in the tidal energy sector and are creating green technologies, green jobs, a cleaner environment and a predictable, renewable source of electricity for Nova Scotians.”
Edinburgh-headquartered Sustainable Marine is using its demonstration site at Grand Passage to prove up its technology and environmental monitoring systems, before commencing deployments in the Minas Passage.
