Following a period of commissioning and testing environmental monitoring equipment, Sustainable Marine Energy announced February 27 that it had satisfied the requirements set out by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans to commence operation of tidal turbines on the PLAT-I platform installed in Grand Passage, Nova Scotia.
The platform is equipped with instream turbines developed by SCHOTTEL, originally developed and tested in Scotland with support provided by Scottish Enterprise. It was relocated to Nova Scotia and installed at Grand Passage in September 2018. It then underwent a period of commissioning and testing of the environmental monitoring equipment.
On Saturday, February 23 the system generated its first power, becoming what the company calls the only operational in-stream tidal energy system currently installed in Nova Scotia.
The works performed over the past weeks, including the installation of turbine blades at site, have demonstrated what the company calls the unique advantages provided by SME’s PLAT-I technology. All critical components can be accessed and serviced on site, and in Canadian winter conditions.
“We are very proud to have achieved this important milestone, as part of our staged testing and demonstration program in Nova Scotia,” said Jason Hayman, managing director of SME. “We have been working diligently with a wide range of stakeholders, including research organizations, academia and regulators to develop effective methods of monitoring the environmental interactions of this new form of electricity generation, and will continue to do so as we advance our technology. Our objective is to provide coastal and island communities with a robust, reliable and environmentally benign renewable energy solution.’’
SME of Scotland is a turnkey supplier of integrated tidal energy generation systems. The company merged with the tidal energy business of Schottel in 2018. SME commercializes the tidal turbine technology developed by Schottel, in conjunction with its platform and anchoring solutions. Schottel Hydro is based in Germany.
SCHOTTEL has also announced a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into SME. SCHOTTEL has transferred all its tidal energy assets, including UK subsidiary TidalStream Ltd and Canadian subsidiary Black Rock Tidal Power Inc. (BRTP), to SME in return for equity, becoming SME’s largest shareholder. BRTP’s name has been changed to Sustainable Marine Energy (Canada) Ltd.
SME will be commercialising the tidal turbine technology developed by SCHOTTEL, in conjunction with its platform and anchoring solutions, to offer an integrated solution to the market. SME will also be continuing the development of projects in Nova Scotia that will be used to prove up its products, including the 5MW berth at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) that was awarded to SCHOTTEL in 2014.
See also “Irish company developing tidal power in NS,” elsewhere this issue.