Federal and local officials announced a $9.4-million investment in four tidal energy projects September 9 that will bring clean energy technologies to the Atlantic region and “help Canada build a cleaner future.”
The announcement took place following a tour of the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy’s facilities in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. The investments are:
Nova Innovation’s 100 kW M100 D turbine. Up to fifteen turbines will operate on the seabed in the Bay of Fundy.
• $4 million to Nova Innovation (https://www.novainnovation.com/) to build a tidal turbine array using sub-sea tidal technology in Petit Passage in the Bay of Fundy. Nova believes the smaller profile of its M100 D turbines, at 100 kW, will enable them to withstand the Fundy tide and operate without endangering marine life. The company claims successful operation of three of its turbines in the Shetland Islands without incident since 2016.
• $1.58 million to the University of Manitoba, (http://umanitoba.ca/) in partnership with SOAR Sustainable Oceans Applied Research, (https://sustainableoceans.ca/) to advance research on river hydrokinetic and in-stream tidal energy technologies in the Canadian context.
• $2 million to Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia, (https://oera.ca/) to research an environmental effects monitoring solution for the instream tidal energy industry in Canada, including fish and marine mammal interactions with tidal devices.
• $2 million to Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy, (https://fundyforce.ca/) to outline a plan to assess the encounter risk for fish with tidal devices and create a tool to support the regulatory authorization process for tidal energy projects. The tidal energy risk assessment program involves participation from multiple partners, including Acadia University, Marine Renewables Canada, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group, Ocean Tracking Network at Dalhousie University and Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy.
The first project was funded through Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) Energy Innovation Program, which provides support to projects reducing emissions, including GHGs, through research, development and demonstration of clean energy technologies, with the aim of meeting 2050 clean growth targets.
The second project was funded through NRCan’s Clean Growth Program, which invests in clean technology research and development projects in Canada’s energy, mining and forest sectors. The program is a $155-million investment fund that helps natural resource sectors and innovators come together to accelerate the development of clean technologies that reduce the impacts on air, land and water while enhancing competitiveness and creating jobs.
The Clean Growth Program also provided support to the University of Manitoba for the capacity to collaborate with CanmetENERGY Ottawa on the optimization of river turbine arrays through numerical analysis and the identification of potential hydrokinetic resources in northern Canada through the use of radar satellite image processing. This investment was made through the Program’s Science and Technology Assistance for Cleantech (STAC) initiative, which provides federal laboratory support for innovators, intended to help bring Canadian clean technologies to market by providing federal research expertise, facilities and equipment.
Funding for the remaining projects comes from NRCan’s Emerging Renewables Power Program, a $200-million program from Budget 2017 and part of Canada’s $180-billion Investing in Canada infrastructure plan for public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes and Canada’s rural and northern communities.