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As part of The Times’ coverage of last year’s global climate summit, I wrote an article about a project in Nova Scotia designed to generate renewable electricity from the extraordinary waves of the Bay of Fundy. Now, regulatory roadblocks mean the pilot project may be shut down.
The extraordinary tides of the Bay of Fundy have long been regarded as an abundant source of electricity. In Passage Minas – the narrowest part of the bay – the water level rises or falls about 17 meters, about the height of a four-story building, and can create a great force.
[Read: Who Will Win the Race to Generate Electricity From Ocean Tides?]
Most plans to generate power in the Bay of Fundy have been disasters or disappointments, in part because they have placed turbines on the ocean floor, where underwater debris, such as driftwood, has destroyed it. Sustainable Marine, a German company focused on tidal energy, is taking a new approach. Instead of placing the turbine on the seabed, Sustainable Marine placed it on a submarine-like barge flanked by two large outriggers.
Once the barge is in the water, the operating operator cancels the deployment of the turbine or raises it when whales and other marine mammals are spotted nearby or during severe storms. The platform is covered with sensors and cameras to track fish and other marine life.
When I visited the production platform PLAT-I 6.40, as the barge is officially known, it was undergoing preliminary trials in the Bay of Fundy’s Grand Passage, where the waves are less extreme. Success there meant it had to be towed into the stronger currents of Minas Passage for more tests and data collection on the effects on fish and marine life. Once there, it will be connected to the electricity grid through one of five cables to the mainland.
But the project was launched before it could be moved. Sustainable Marine announced this week that Fisheries and Oceans Canada, better known as DFO, would not grant a permit to set up a turbine in Minas Passage, thus mothballing the platform and suspending operations in Nova Scotia.
“We were always hopeful that we would be able to agree some sort of rational process with the DFO, but we just haven’t been able to,” Jason Hayman, the company’s chief executive, told me. “We are very disappointed, to be very polite, about the situation. There is no rational explanation for this.”
The reason for the rejection, Mr. Hayman said, was not made clear through the process, which he found unclear. Mr Hayman said the company’s investors would not have to wait much longer for permission, so it could be closed. Stopping the project will put about 20 people out of work in Canada as the company looks to expand here.
Tim Houston, Nova Scotia’s premier, also expressed his disappointment.
“This is a huge blow to the tidal industry in our area,” he said in an email. “Jurisdictions around the world would love to have something like Nova Scotia in their backyard. I’m very disappointed with the federal government and its apathetic attitude toward opportunities to green our fields.
The fisheries department said in a statement that privacy rules prevent it from discussing any specifics of the Sustainable Marine permit application.
“This is an area with fast waves, which is narrow, difficult to see,” the department wrote. “Adequate monitoring plans are needed to assess potential impacts to fish and fish habitat.”
When asked why it had previously given permission to install two seabed generating turbines at the same test site, the department said the decision “depends on where the device is in the water column” and was not elaborate.
During the Great Passage test, Mr. Hayman said, all the data was regularly sent to the fisheries department as well as to academic researchers. He admitted that sometimes there can be visibility problems in Minas Passage because the turbulent water can overwhelm fish sensors and fish tracking cameras. But he added that part of the goal of the trial is to refine and improve the marine life monitoring system.
According to Mr. Hayman, there have never been any recorded cases of fish or marine mammals being destroyed by corporate systems in Canada or Europe. Sustainable Marine’s research to date, Mr Hayman said, has shown that the flow of water around the turbine directs fish away from the blades underwater.
The company made a last-ditch effort, through a local member of Parliament, to reach an agreement with the DFO for the project. So far, Mr. Hayman said, the project has cost about 60 million Canadian dollars, with about half of that money coming from the government.
“It is absolute economic vandalism, the fact that some quite low levels of fish and fish habitat protection programs can die like this,” Mr. Hayman said. “There’s hope for us that hopefully someone in a jurisdiction that can do it will want to vote for this. Honestly, they’re going to get a deal. Because they’re going to get something that’s 85 percent of the way that’s funded by other governments.
Trans Canada
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When Brian Maracle, a Mohawk, left journalism and city life to return to the Six Nations of the Grand River, he quickly became frustrated with the courses available to teach him Kanyen’keha, the Mohawk language. Decades later, he dramatically and successfully changed the way Indigenous languages are taught.
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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays flourished as they battled the New York Yankees, reports Tyler Kepner.
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The chairman of the BBC has resigned over his role in facilitating a $1 million loan to Boris Johnson when the politician was prime minister. The money came from Sam Blyth, a Canadian businessman and distant cousin of Mr. Johnson who, among other things, founded the chain of private schools that bears his name.
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Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Metropolitan Opera and director of the Orchester Métropolitain in Montreal, challenges conservative norms with custom-made costumes for each opera production, Javier C. Hernández reports.
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From My Opinion: As Canada moves to extend the right to medically assisted death for the mentally ill, the “First Person” podcast talks with Dr. legal since 2002.
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The ghostly glow of the Northern Lights has been seen in parts of Canada, North America and Europe that normally don’t blink.
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen studied in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.
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