VATIS UPDATE Article

Cape Sharp Tidal, a partnership between Emera, Canada, and OpenHydro/DCNS, Canada, has deployed its two-megawatt turbine at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) test site near Parrsboro. This milestone marks a turning point for Canada’s renewable energy sector. It is the first time clean, renewable in-stream tidal power has successfully been generated from the Bay of Fundy, and the first time a turbine has been grid-connected at FORCE.

The demonstration open-centre turbine, designed and manufactured by OpenHydro, uses a fraction of the estimated 7,000 megawatt potential of the Minas Passage to power the equivalent of about 500 Nova Scotia homes with energy from tides. A second turbine, planned for deployment in 2017, will make Cape Sharp Tidal one of the largest generating arrays in the world.

The completed four-megawatt demonstration project will displace the need to burn about 2,000 tonnes of coal, and eliminate 6,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road each year. This achievement contributes to Nova Scotia’s overachievement on national greenhouse gas reduction goals.