2023 Highlights
Technology Development
- BigMoon’s first device, the “Falcon” began trails in fall 2022. The unit’s nameplate capacity is 500kW, enough to power about 500 homes, comprised of a large wheel suspended between the pontoons of a 30-metre barge anchored to the ocean floor. The barge swivels to face the current in both directions. Four 170-ton moorings for the device were completed in March 2023, at Darren Porter’s site in Walton. The Falcon is currently in Saint John, from which BigMoon is expected to commence its deployment operation.
- DP Energy plans to deploy 6 Andritz Hammerfest Hydro (AHH) MK1s in a project called Uisce Tapa, meaning fast flowing water in Gaelic. The MK1 has an 18.4 m diameter rotor and rated power of 1.5 MW for a project total of 9MW. The turbine is a horizontal axis, 3 bladed, seabed mounted tidal turbine, which has been successfully deployed (3 machines) at MeyGen in Scotland.
- Eauclaire has partnered with a European technology company to deliver its project; this technology has been reviewed and approved by the NS Department of Natural Resources and Renewables. The technology is not yet publicly available.
- On March 20, 2023, Sustainable Marine Energy Canada (SMEC) advised Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) that it was “withdrawing [their] application, and [would] not be continuing the development of [their] Pempa’q instream tidal energy Project” at FORCE, citing the lack of a “pathway to deliver [their] project at FORCE, let alone one that aligns with other provincial and federal instruments.”
- SMEC placed the PLAT-I platforms into storage, with all equipment removed from the seabed at the site. The company appointed Deloitte Restructuring as trustee in charge of the administration of their voluntary bankruptcy. In June 2023, largely in response to SMEC’s closure as well as sustained public communication by SMEC, Marine Renewables Canada, FORCE, and NS Premier Tim Houston, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister of Natural Resources launched the Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy. Its purpose is to provide advice on how to clarify requirements for fish protection, improve transparency and methodology of risk assessment and decision making on tidal turbine deployments, and reduce turnaround time for regulatory decisions
FORCE
- FORCE executive director Lindsay Bennett serves as co-chair (along with Dr. Anna Redden) of the Risk and Monitoring Working Group to the Government of Canada’s Task Force on Sustainable Tidal Energy Development in the Bay of Fundy. The primary role of the working group is to build a work plan to evaluate and monitor the collision risk of fish with different designs of tidal stream energy devices during 2024-2026.
- FORCE partnered with Eastern Shore Fishermen’s Protective Association (ESFPA) and Little Hope Management Committee (LHMC) to help build regional capacity for the use and application of hydroacoustics , and to provide hands on training and guidance during the development of standard operating procedure documentation for the correct use of the Kongsberg EK80 BWBT echosounder and associated post-processing so that ESFPA & LHMC could lead those elements of this work going forward.
- This year FORCE has partnered with Innovasea to deploy their new NexTrak R1 receivers in Minas Passage, as part of ongoing efforts to test and improve fish monitoring in the Bay of Fundy and ensure tidal stream energy is developed responsibly.
- FORCE, OSC, Innovasea, DeepSense (Dalhousie U), BigMoon, NS Power and NB Power have partnered for an AI Tagless Fish Tracking Program to help tidal/hydro power companies gather more conclusive fish tracking evidence, and further protecting fish populations, this project will use AI to drive two important strategic capability breakthroughs in fish tracking technologies, specifically:
- Reliable fish tracking in extremely harsh marine environment
- Improved availability of fish tracking insights from extremely remote sites