There is energy in harnessing the water from the Bay of Fundy

Parrsboro, N. S. is where it may begin!

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This may be the time to think Parrsboro

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novanewsnow.com, 'Your Community' ... 'Your News' Nova Scotia News Ma Tidal energy facility partners announced Article online since January 8th 2008, 16:21   Nova Scotia is one step closer to building North America's first in-stream tidal technology centre to host some of the world's leading devices to harness energy from the world's highest tides. Three candidates, representing technologies from Canada, the U.S.A. and Ireland, have cleared the first hurdle in their bid to demonstrate tidal devices in the Bay of Fundy and the province has given Minas Basin Pulp and Power conditional approval to build the host facility. These companies know what we know—the Bay of Fundy is one of the world's best sites for tidal development," said Premier Rodney MacDonald in Parrsboro today, Jan. 8." "And today we are a step closer to proving it. This facility can become a landmark centre of excellence in our efforts to provide cleaner sources of energy. "The more we move away from coal-based electricity, the more we protect our environment—a key priority for this government." The facility will be funded by a $4.7-million grant from the province's Ecotrust for Clean Air and Climate Change program, a $3-million zero-interest loan from EnCana Corporation's Environmental Innovation Fund, and significant contributions from each of the successful developers. The province will also make $300,000 available for environmental and permitting work. "We are grateful for the shared desire today to help create a brand new industry," said Energy Minister Richard Hurlburt. "And we are pleased to welcome some of the world's most promising technology to our province. If we combine that technology with Nova Scotia's offshore expertise, research capacity and enormous tidal resource, this can become a truly outstanding centre of excellence." Gerry Protti, president of EnCana Corporation's offshore and international division added, “EnCana is pleased to support the development of a promising and untapped energy resource here in Nova Scotia. Unlocking the unconventional power of the tides requires innovative thinking and the kind of creative partnerships that will be generated at this centre." The three candidates in negotiations for first occupancy in the proposed facility are: -- Clean Current (using a Clean Current Mark III Turbine) -- Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. Ltd. (UEK Hydrokinetic Turbine) -- Nova Scotia Power Inc. (OpenHydro Turbine) Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company proposes to construct the facility infrastructure, which would connect all tidal devices from the Bay of Fundy to the Nova Scotia electric grid. "As a Nova Scotia company, we're extremely pleased to play a role in moving tidal technology forward," said John Woods, vice-president of energy at Minas Basin Pulp and Power. "The fact that we'll be working together with devices from both North America and Europe shows the potential global reach of this technology." Glen Darou, Clean Current's president and CEO added, "Nova Scotia is demonstrating strong leadership in sponsoring this world-class demonstration site. The Clean Current team is delighted to be part of this history-making event. The Clean Current Mark III turbine that we will install here is simple, efficient and environmentally friendly." Ralph Tedesco, president and CEO of Nova Scotia Power said "Nova Scotia Power and OpenHydro are proud to be helping harness this silent, invisible, predictable energy -- renewable liquid gold from the Bay of Fundy." "Tidal energy has the potential to help Nova Scotia meet its 2020 deadline to cut greenhouse gas to 10 per cent below 1990 levels," said Mr. Hurlburt. "But please remember -- a number of conditions must be met before anything goes in the water." These conditions include the completion of: -- a strategic environmental assessment (expected spring 2008) -- site-specific environmental assessment(s) -- provincial and federal permits and approvals -- a contribution agreement between province and developer(s) -- a land lease agreement between province and developer(s) Research identifies the Bay of Fundy as potentially the best site for tidal power generation in North America, with a world-class resource in close proximity to an existing grid and potential consumers. Nova Scotia's regulations demand nearly 20 per cent of the province's electricity supply come from renewable sources by 2013. In-stream tidal energy has the potential to help meet that target. Tidal technology also holds potential future opportunities for Nova Scotia suppliers and manufacturers, many of whom already have experience in Nova Scotia's offshore petroleum industry. The Nova Scotia departments of Energy, Environment and Labour, and Natural Resources have worked together to develop the project, in support of one of the province's five priorities -- protecting the environment.

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N.S. to tap into Bay of Fundy tidal power Halifax Daily News HALIFAX - Nova Scotia's Department of Energy will announce Tuesday which companies will be involved in a demonstration facility off Cape Blomidon that's supposed to begin turning the world's highest tides into electricity next year. Premier Rodney MacDonald will make the announcement in Parrsboro, about 185 kilometres northeast of Halifax, where the new power plant will be located. Nova Scotia Power already has a 20-megawatt tidal plant at Annapolis Royal. Essentially a kind of dam, it generates power when ebb tides pour out of the Annapolis River estuary and pass through a turbine. The new pilot project targets the Minas Channel, calling for in-stream turbines to generate electricity from theestimated eight billion tonnes of water that pass through the channel four times a day. A 2006 U.S. report said about 15 per cent of the channel's energy can be harnessed for power generation without harming the environment. Tidal power is seen as an important renewable resource for a province that currently relies on imported coal for most of its electricity. MacDonald said he believes tidal power can supply about 15 per cent of Nova Scotia's electricity needs. ©Global National 2008

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N.S. to harness Fundy tide power The Chronicle Herald - Halifax The Canadian Press 08-Jan-2008 Nova Scotia hopes to harness the power of the Bay of Fundy tides to provide cleaner power for the province. (LEN WAGG/Staff/File) PARRSBORO — Nova Scotia is creating a centre to test tidal power projects in the Bay of Fundy. Premier Rodney MacDonald announced $4.7 million in provincial government funding Tuesday, along with a $3-million interest-free loan from EnCana, to set up the centre. ``This facility can become a landmark centre of excellence in our efforts to provide cleaner sources of energy,'' MacDonald said. ``The more we move away from coal-based electricity, the more we protect our environment — a key priority for this government.'' Three companies will put test turbines on the floor of the bay, spending between $10 million and $15 million each on their projects. Nova Scotia Power is teaming up with Ireland's Open Hydro on its turbine project, while Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. is joining with UEK Hydrokinetic. The third company to test in the area is Clean Current of British Columbia. The companies hope to have test turbines in the water by early 2009 and will supply power to the province's electricity grid once the projects are in operation. MacDonald made Tuesday's announcement in Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy and has said he believes tidal power can supply about 15 per cent of Nova Scotia's electricity needs. Gerry Protti, president of EnCana Corp.'s offshore and international division, said the company thinks tidal power is ``a promising and untapped energy resource here in Nova Scotia. ``Unlocking the unconventional power of the tides requires innovative thinking and the kind of creative partnerships that will be generated at this centre Parrsboro mayor hopes to turn tide          Area may host trial tidal power project By TOM McCOAG Amherst Bureau Chronicle Herald Tue. Jan 8 PARRSBORO — Mayor Doug Robinson hopes Premier Rodney MacDonald will be in Parrsboro today to announce that the Cape Sharp area has been selected as the site for a trial tidal power project. "What I’m hearing is that the premier and (Energy Minister Richard) Hurlburt won’t be here to announce which company will be doing the project but that they will be announcing the project site," the mayor said Monday. "Since they’re holding the meeting, I’m assuming and hoping they’ll be telling us that the site we’ve been supporting for about two years, which is just off Cape Sharp, has been selected." Cape Sharp is a spit of land that juts out into the Minas Channel 10 to 20 kilometres west of Parrsboro opposite Cape Split at the narrowest part of the Bay of Fundy. "I certainly hope it is being located at Cape Sharp because having it there would mean more activity for our harbour," the mayor said. "The town could also benefit because the location for where the electricity comes ashore could be built here, as well as buildings required to support the operation of the project." The president of the Heavy Current Fishing Association of Halls Harbour, which represents about 30 fishermen, wasn’t quite as enthused. "Cape Sharp is a very important fishing area for us," Mark Taylor said. "I’ve fished lobster there for 30 years. It’s an important migratory route for them as well. We just don’t know what impact having these (tidal energy) machines in the water will have on that fishery. "If it is there, we will lose some important fishing area that can’t be replaced unless you moved in on someone else’s territory, which wouldn’t be a good idea." Mr. Taylor’s association has had three of six promised meetings with proponents of the project, which he said include the province and Nova Scotia Power. But many questions still have to be answered, he said. "We’d like to see the science for it. We’d like to know what impact it will have on the migration of lobster. We’d even like to know how close we can set our pots to these machines. Until they can answer questions like those, we really don’t know what we could lose." Mr. Taylor admitted the answers may not be known until the test site is built. But if the tests prove the project is viable, then "200 machines in that area could mean that fishery is lost to us," he said. "And if it isn’t viable, we wonder if they will be required to clean up the site so that it remains a good spot to fish." An American group, the Electric Power Research Institute, has indicated that the Bay of Fundy in the Cape Split area has the potential to be the best site in North America for large-scale, grid-connected tidal energy generation. Last year, the province called for a pilot tidal power project for the Bay of Fundy, and in November the government shortlisted seven bidders. They include Maritime Tidal Energy Corp. of Halifax and partner Marine Current Turbines of Britain, Arnold Systems LLC of New York, Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of Vancouver, Lucid Energy Technologies of Indiana and Nova Tidal Power Inc. of Tatamagouche. Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. of Hantsport and Nova Scotia Power, owned by Emera Inc., have submitted bids to build a tidal energy test facility, a part of the project that includes designing and operating a structure to collect electricity from the turbines and processing scientific data. No device is expected to go into the bay before next year.    (tmccoag@herald.ca) Nova Scotia to create test centre for tidal power Globe and Mail January 8, 2008 PARRSBORO, N.S. — Nova Scotia is creating a centre to test tidal power projects in the Bay of Fundy. Premier Rodney MacDonald announced $4.7-million in provincial government funding Tuesday, along with a $3-million interest-free loan from EnCana, to set up the centre. “This facility can become a landmark centre of excellence in our efforts to provide cleaner sources of energy,” MacDonald said. “The more we move away from coal-based electricity, the more we protect our environment — a key priority for this government.” Three companies will put test turbines on the floor of the bay, spending between $10-million and $15-million each on their projects. Nova Scotia Power is teaming up with Ireland's Open Hydro on its turbine project, while Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. is joining with UEK Hydrokinetic. The third company to test in the area is Clean Current of British Columbia. The companies hope to have test turbines in the water by early 2009 and will supply power to the province's electricity grid once the projects are in operation. Mr. MacDonald made Tuesday's announcement in Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy and has said he believes tidal power can supply about 15 per cent of Nova Scotia's electricity needs. Gerry Protti, president of EnCana Corp.'s offshore and international division, said the company thinks tidal power is “a promising and untapped energy resource here in Nova Scotia. “Unlocking the unconventional power of the tides requires innovative thinking and the kind of creative partnerships that will be generated at this centre.”

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Tides of Promise Page: 1 |  The majestic Bay of Fundy is the best location in North America to harness tidal energy — and entrepreneurs are anxious to start By John DeMont Late morning on a Tuesday in July. From where he stands at the mouth of Parrsboro Harbour, the swirling Pirates of the Caribbean fog is so thick that James Taylor can barely make out Partridge Island a few hundred metres away, let alone Cape Blomidon, the headland straight across the waters of Minas Basin. "It's a special spot," says Nova Scotia Power's general manager of environmental planning and monitoring. Coming from an engineer, a breed not exactly known for hyperbole, the wonder in his voice says something: After all, the north end of the Bay of Fundy — where the fossilized remains of the world's first reptiles were discovered — is home to some of the most famous geology on the planet. Then there are those placid-looking waters threatening to submerge the chair on which he's posing for a photographer. By Taylor's calculation, the tide is coming in at the rate of about an inch a minute. Which means that the ocean will have risen to mid-thigh in the time it would take to watch the average sitcom; a half hour later, unless he moves, he'll be swimming with the fishes. Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Shaun Lowe The majestic Bay of Fundy is the best location in North America to harness tidal energy. Twice a day, 100 billion tonnes of seawater — more than the combined flow of all the freshwater rivers in the world — pours in and out of a 200-million-year-old rift valley cradled between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Taylor is looking out at the narrowest part of the bay, the 4.5-kilometre channel between Cape Blomidon on Nova Scotia's western shore and Parrsboro, on the isthmus connecting the province to New Brunswick. Two years from now, his company intends to locate the world's largest underwater tidal turbine there, where the crush of water routinely hits speeds of eight knots and the tides can rise and fall more than 15 metres, the highest known differential on Earth. Other Canadian locales, such as Quebec's Ungava Bay and the estuaries along the British Columbia coast, clearly offer tidal power potential. It's the waters of the Bay of Fundy, though, that hold the greatest promise when it comes to tapping the power of the surging tides. "It's a gift we've yet to take advantage of," says Taylor. Until now.   The crush of water routinely hits speeds of eight knots and the tides can rise and fall more than 15 metres, the highest known differential on Earth. No one is calling tidal the next big energy thing. But global interest in ocean power has never been greater: soaring oil prices, immense supply uncertainties, and growing pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change are pushing the search for new energy sources. Clean, renewable tidal power stacks up well against the alternative energy competition: it's more dependable than solar and provides more bang per buck than wind. (Water is denser than air, so fewer tidal turbines than windmills are needed to produce the same amount of power.) Furthermore, nobody's likely to grouse that an underwater tidal turbine is ugly or too noisy — the most common complaint against wind turbines. As John Wightman, managing director of Windsor, Nova Scotia-based ATEC Power, which wants to put its own turbines in the Minas Passage area, puts it, "The planets are lining up for tidal power." Tides of Promise Page:  |  2 |  That seems particularly true in Atlantic Canada, a region hampered by a dearth of energy alternatives. The Nova Scotia government, for example, has decreed that by 2013, the province will generate almost 20 percent of its electricity through renewable sources, nearly double the current level. But which ones? The province's rivers are too small for hydro to be a major part of the energy mix. Wind power can't do it all: Air currents are capricious enough that even the most active turbine produces power less than 50 percent of the time. And the NIMBY backlash against wind turbines has already surfaced in the province: Singer Anne Murray made headlines last summer by publicly complaining about proposed windmills near her Nova Scotian summer home. Photo: © Robert Rushton Low tide in the Bay of Fundy. All the more reason, it seems, to finally give tidal power a real look. The Yanks could be first off the mark: By 2009, Ocean Renewable Power, a Florida based company, wants to put a floating structure containing four turbine generators near Passamaquoddy Bay, where the Canadian waters end at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy. But some 15 developers have also contacted the Nova Scotia government about testing underwater tidal energy turbines in the bay. If it all works out, they envision farms with dozens, and even hundreds, of units. Meantime, the New Brunswick government is funding several of its own tidal power research initiatives. The only real question: Why did it take so long? The imaginative have eyed the Fundy tides as a potential energy source since Samuel de Champlain built a tidal mill at Port Royal, N.S., in 1607. Similar mills — which used the power of tidal currents to grind grain or pump water — were built in Passamaquoddy Bay in the 1700s. Then, in the early 1900s, along came engineer Wallace Rupert Turnbull, a Saint John, N.B., native who inherited a fortune from his banker father and spent the rest of his days in the then new study of aeronautical science. That obsession earned him a reputation for madness among his neighbors, but also culminated in a design for a tidal power generating station to harness the Fundy tides.   Nova Scotia has decreed that by 2013, it will generate almost 20 percent of its electricity through renewable sources. Turnbull's grand scheme went nowhere. Neither did Franklin D. Roosevelt's short-lived 1935 project to dam Passamaquoddy Bay and use the water differential to generate electricity. Ditto the Nova Scotia government's plan four decades later to build a huge barrage, or dam, across the mouth of Cobequid Bay. The idea was to use the difference in water levels caused by the rising and falling tides to drive turbines strategically placedin the dam. Trouble was oil had to hit $20 per barrel before the electricity generated there would be competitive. Scientists were also nervous about the impact the dam would have on local wildlife, tidal flows and ocean sediments. Tides of Promise Page:  |  3 |   So, the big idea was scrapped. Instead, in 1984, the first tidal power station in North America began producing electricity from a small island in the mouth of the Annapolis River. Feeding the local energy grid twice a day, the Annapolis Tidal Generating Station, whose 20-megawatt capacity makes it the second-largest tidal power plant on the globe, generates enough electricity to power 4,000 homes daily. Like most of the world's few existing tidal power plants, it's an updated version of the old barrage model. They're all about to become relics of the past. The growing list of green-energy venture capitalists, scientists and entrepreneurs lining up to harvest the untapped power from the world's oceans have no intention of building big dams that block the flow of water and potentially screw up ecosystems. Photo: © UEK Corporation Marine-current turbines work like submerged windmills. ATEC Power wants to test an Underwater Electric Kite model. Suddenly de rigueur are smaller, cheaper "in stream" turbines, mounted on floating platforms or anchored to the ocean floor, with wind mill like blades encased in a protective shroud that allows fish, whales and tidal sediment to flow unimpeded around and through the units. ATEC Power, for example, wants to test a design pioneered by artist-inventor Philippe Vauthier; it resembles a giant box kite, connected by a line to the ocean bottom, which moves up and down in the water to catch the best currents. Nova Scotia Power, on the other hand, will use a turbine developed by its Irish partner OpenHydro, which looks like an enormous donut with a hole in the middle. (The turbine blades are connected to an encased rotor that spins slowly as the water flows through.) United Kingdom-based Marine Current Turbines — at this point the favoured supplier of Maritime Tidal Energy, a Halifax corporation vying to develop a test site in the Minas Passage area — is developing something right out of War of the Worlds: twin rotors, 15 to 20 metres in diameter, mounted like wings on the sides of a tubular steel pile that extends out of the water. Another version is fully submersible. Photo: © UEK Corporation   A Halifax company is looking at a generator that can be raised above sea level for maintenance. Why all this international buzz about the Bay of Fundy? The improbably powerful tides and the close proximity to the nearby power grid provide an unfair advantage over just about everywhere else in the world when it comes to tidal potential. Minas Passage and the nearby Minas Channel emerged as the top choices when the California-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the electrical industry's research and- development arm, prepared a 2006 report on North America's most promising tidal power sites. "It's the mother lode," says Roger Bedard, EPRI's chief tidal power engineer. Which explains why so many players are trying to tap into it - even if so many imponderables remain. This is, after all, still an upstart industry using new technologies with little or no track record. In many cases, the developers are unsure how much the turbines will even cost. No one is exactly certain what awaits when they expose their turbines to Fundy's harsh tides, floating debris and winter ice either. "This is an awesome site for a farm of tidal turbines," says Glen Darou, president of Vancouver-based Clean Current Power Systems, which has already developed a tidal turbine demonstration unit and tested it near Race Rocks, B.C. "But anybody who says it is going to be easy has simply not tried to install a turbine in tidal currents like these." Tides of Promise Page: |  4 Tidal energy's immense potential clearly outweighs the uncertainty. Otherwise, it's highly unlikely that a conservative company like Nova Scotia Power — a stodgy crown corporation until its privatization in 1992 — would invest $3 million of shareholders' money into its Fundy tidal turbine pilot project. Or that Sustainable Development Technology Canada would throw $4 million into the same endeavor. Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Rüdiger Baun Tides slosh back and forth in the Bay of Fundy twice a day with clockwork precision. The players are taking it a single step at a time: Build one turbine, test it, and if successful, add more. The Nova Scotia government is equally cautious: A sweeping environmental assessment will be carried out before a single turbine enters the province's waters. That's unlikely to be a rubber stamp: "Every proponent says their turbine is eco-friendly," says Graham Daborn, former director of Acadia University's Arthur Irving Academy for the Environment. "But there's been very little work done on the impact these turbines will have on the environment." The Nova Scotia government has also issued a call for tenders for companies interested in teaming together as part of a joint tidal demonstration site in the Minas Passage.   Tidal energy's immense potential clearly outweighs the uncertainty. Even that kind of go-slow approach can't dampen the building excitement. The fog begins to lift as James Taylor picks his way over the loose beach rock. He describes in almost-loving detail a day when his company could have 300 turbines in carefully chosen sites nearby, powering thousands of Nova Scotia homes, while at the same time, diminishing the world's carbon footprint. It's a hopeful image — particularly from a guy who has spent a large chunk of his career managing coal-fired power plants. "It's great," Taylor says, "to be on the leading edge of something." And greater still if all those decades of waiting are finally over.       ( from      http://www.checkerspotmagazine.ca)

 

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