Nova Scotia Host Tidal Symposium, Getting Power to Market (Canada)

The province is inviting experts from around the world to work together to accelerate the emerging tidal energy industry and discuss growing opportunities for Nova Scotia businesses.

Representatives from Canada, U.S.A., U.K. and Korea will be in Halifax to discuss technology in the Bay of Fundy and help commercial development on a global scale, as Nova Scotia gets set to host an international tidal energy symposium before the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers conference next month.

“Nova Scotia has many strong assets in the tidal energy industry: the powerful Fundy tides; the Fundy Ocean Resource Centre for Energy; a fixed price for investors; a skilled marine industry; and aggressive renewable targets,” said Premier Darrell Dexter. “This is an emerging industry, and there is more that can be done in partnership with regions around the world that are developing technology and capitalizing on this resource.”

The symposium, Getting Power to Market, will examine critical issues in tidal energy development, such as:

— commercial research initiatives

— project financing

— regulatory issues and solutions

— expanding transmission infrastructure

— supply chain and service requirements

The symposium includes a supplier development forum, featuring sessions with each of the four developers from FORCE (Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy), and opportunities for direct networking appointments.

Also on the agenda is a workshop for small-scale tidal developers. These community-based projects will soon be able to seek project financing when the Utility and Review Board sets new feed-in tariffs later this year.

“Community-based projects may be small in scale but their potential benefits to the community are big,” said Fundy Tidal president Dana Morin. “The feed-in tariff can create good jobs at home, in rural communities like Westport and Digby.”

FORCE chair John Woods said the potential for tidal power in Nova Scotia is enormous.

“The latest research suggests that we can safely generate about 2,500 megawatts of power in the Minas Passage alone during peak tidal flows, equivalent to four large coal-fired generating plants,” said Mr. Woods. “The sooner we understand how to harness that kind of energy potential, the sooner we’ll see the benefits to our economy and environment, both here and around the world.”

FORCE and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) recently signed a strategic agreement to make research efforts more efficient and better co-ordinated.

“The number of marine energy devices at our test centre in the U.K. continues to grow,” said EMEC operations director Stuart Baird, who will present at the symposium. “These machines are connected to the power grid, supplying power to homes. This industry is not a dream. It’s real. And it’s happening right now.”

The two-day symposium is open to the public, and runs July 7 and 8 at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel, Halifax. For agenda and registration, please visit https://nstidalsymposium.ca/ .

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Source: ns, June 28, 2011; Image: nstidalsymposium