Nova Scotia tidal turbine installed

A Canadian tidal power developer has installed a turbine at a test site in the Bay of Fundy. Cape Sharp Tidal's project off Nova Scotia could demonstrate the feasibility of larger-scale marine hydrokinetic power plants connected to the mainland electricity grid.

Cape Sharp Tidal is a joint venture between Canadian utility Emera Inc. and marine turbine manufacturer OpenHydro.  Its project entails a grid-connected 4-megawatt array consisting of two tidal turbines.  The project is located at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) site.  Headquartered near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, FORCE is Canada's leading research center for in-stream tidal energy, with demonstration berths, a grid interconnection capable of accepting tidal power, and environmental monitoring capabilities.

This week Cape Sharp Tidal deployed the project's first turbine-generator, a 2-megawatt OpenHydro unit.  In subsequent work, crews interconnected the turbine cable tail to the FORCE site's main interconnection cable, an existing 16MW subsea export cable connected to an onshore substation.

Previous efforts to develop hydrokinetic tidal energy projects in the Bay of Fundy have met with difficulty.  While the bay offers large and powerful tides, weather and sea conditions can prove challenging, as can obtaining environmental and regulatory approvals.  A test tidal turbine deployed in 2009 was quickly destroyed; the turbine installed this week was originally slated for installation earlier but was delayed due to concerns over impacts to fisheries and the environment.  This week's installation represents a concrete step forward for Canadian tidal power.

Cape Sharp Tidal intends to install and connect a second turbine at the FORCE site in 2017.  According to the developer, its future plans -- subject to regulatory and business approvals -- could include a commercial-scale project of up to 300 megawatts capacity within 15 years.

July 19, 2011 - Nova Scotia tidal energy, feed-in tariffs and projects

Hydrokinetic energy projects are cropping up in Canada just as they are in the U.S.  (For a review of hydrokinetic energy, check out last month's entries.) The Bay of Fundy is famous for its tides, among the largest in the world.  The Canadian province of Nova Scotia is home to a large portion of this resource.  Nova Scotia is also home to an existing tidal power plant: utility Nova Scotia Power's Annapolis Tidal Power Plant.  This tidal energy project, which came online in 1984, has a capacity of 20 megawatts and can generally produce between 80 and 100 megawatt-hours per day.

The tide drops out of a tidal marsh near the Back River on Arrowsic Island, Maine.

Now, Maine-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. has announced plans with Nova Scotia-based Fundy Tidal Inc. to install underwater hydrokinetic turbines to generate electricity from the Bay of Fundy's tides.  The proposal involves the installation of 15 to 20 150-kW turbines in the Petit Passage between Digby Neck and Long Island off western Nova Scotia (map) by 2012. 

The new venture, named ORPC Nova Scotia Ltd., plans to benefit from Nova Scotia's feed-in tariff.  That program, known as the community-based feed-in tariff or COMFIT, is projected to require utilities to pay qualified tidal projects 65.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for their output.  This rate, about six times higher than the typical rate for electricity, is a significant incentive for the development of the province's resources.  Additional support is available from the provincial government to assess hydrokinetic and small tidal projects like the Petit Passage project.

This project may be smaller than the 500 MW Passamaquoddy Power Project first proposed in 1919, but it could represent the first commercial deployment of underwater hydrokinetic turbines in the Bay of Fundy, and follows in Nova Scotia's traditions of harvesting the energy of its tides.

June 28, 2010 - federal grant money for ethanol R&D; Syncrude found guilty in oil sands duck kill

Here's a "do you know..." for you: do you know anyone doing biomass R&D, especially working with cellulosic ethanol? There's a round of federal grants for research and development of handling processes and feedstock logistics. Grants are expected to average $5.5 million each.

DOE, USDA issue funding opportunity for biomass R&D

Up to $33 million is available for biomass research and development projects through a joint funding opportunity from DOE and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The funding opportunity aims to develop new technologies in biofuels, bioenergy and high-value bio-based products.

Pre-applications are due July 13. 
DOE is interested in developing systems to handle large amounts of biomass feedstocks, such as wood chips and wood wastes.

One goal of this funding opportunity is to develop logistics systems that can handle and deliver large amounts of feedstock year-round for cellulosic biofuels production.  DOE’s Biomass Program is focusing its R&D efforts on ensuring that cellulosic ethanol is cost competitive by 2012. For more information on the agencies’ biomass goals, see DOE’s multi-year program plan and the USDA’s Bio-preferred Program, which aims to create a market pull for new products and technologies.

In the news: a Canadian judge has found oil sands developer Syncrude Inc. guilty of quasi-criminal charges related to the death of 1,600 ducks that became mired in oily settling ponds.  Allegedly, Syncrude knew or should have known that a large flight of ducks was inbound (one source says Syncrude had 48 hours notice based on radar) at a time when most natural ponds were frozen.  Syncrude was found guilty of depositing materials hazardous to ducks without deploying its "duck protection systems" in time to prevent these ducks from landing on the settling ponds.  The federal charges could be as high as $300,000 per bird.

Tide power: Irving has walked away from its exclusive rights to evaluate tidal power at 11 Crown-owned sites in the Bay of Fundy.  With Irving's relinquishment, the government will likely issue another RFP for the sites.