Tidal energy pioneers will take a critical first step toward harnessing the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy next week in a do-or-die trial for the nascent industry.
Tidal engineers have yet to prove electricity can be harnessed reliably and cost-effectively from the ocean’s tides. However the potential is high. The concentrated and predictable nature of tides makes the energy they produce less expensive than solar or wind.
The Bay of Fundy's Minas Passage will be the site of a critical tidal energy test statting next week.
Testing in this most dramatic Bay of Fundy environment will be crucial. Tides in the bay run higher than anywhere in the world – typically 55 feet – and storms are frequent.
According to Roger Bedard, ocean energy leader at the Electric Power Research Institute, “if this project is not successful, it would be a major blow to the industry and the industry may not survive.” An EPRI study paved the path for the Bay of Fundy effort to begin.
The trial will kickoff when Nova Scotia Power and OpenHydro of Ireland place a six-story-high turbine in the Minas Passage. The $10 million offshore turbine will the largest installed in Canada. The passage, on the east end of the bay, contains some of its strongest currents.
In the spring, two other turbines from Clear Current of Vancouver and UEK of Annapolis, Md , will go in when a new cable is in place to carry the electricity. The use of separate turbines is important because the industry has yet to settle on a single technology. The trial will help determine which of the machines under development will prove best.
According to the EPRI study, the cost of electricity from the facilities should be competitive – or equal to Nova Scotia’s present wholesale price of 5.5 cents a kWh
And it could be abundant. The tidal flow has the potential to produce 1,013 MW of power, about 152 MW of which can be extracted without no environmental impact
Nevertheless, the challenges are significant. Maintaining turbines in the harsh, corrosive salt-water environment is no day at the beach.
Nice article found your site searching in google I think you could have taken a more neutral view.
[...] test was being closely watched and will be viewed by the industry as a big setback. The theory is that the predictability of the [...]