Tidal Energy in Nova Scotia

Minas Basin and tidal power on world stage
Article online since December 22nd 2009, 15:58

Minas Basin and tidal power on world stage
By Heather Desveaux

While Canada is enduring a tarnished reputation on the world stage when it comes to climate change commitments, there is a significant effort to ensure Nova Scotia will have a good name, according to Scott Travers, President and COO of Minas Basin Pulp and Paper.

“The Province of Nova Scotia put together a really good team representing the renewable energy projects we have to offer here. In fact, I’d say we had the best represented province in the country,” Travers said from Copenhagen last week.

Minas Basin is one of twelve Nova Scotia companies accompanying provincial officials led by Premier Darrell Dexter to Copenhagen to attend the recent UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The delegation went there to promote Nova Scotia’s green technology sector, in particular tidal energy and LED lighting, and to demonstrate the province’s commitment to reducing and mitigating climate change.

“As we establish our common path for the future and take our place with the rest of the world, Minas has been committing and will continue to commit its resources in this international race to stabilize earth’s climate,” said Travers.

While government officials also took time in Denmark to explore new sustainable energy projects to potentially try on in Nova Scotia, Travers says there was no time for his team to attend anything but meetings with the investment community.

‘We were also registered to take part in the larger, more political, COP15 conference, but our real focus is to bring the dollars home.”

To Travers, this means investment in the company’s efforts in tidal energy; in particular, its key role in the development of North America’s first tidal power site, the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE). In addition to renewable energy, the project is expected to generate a continuous flow of economic prosperity, including job creation and attracting global expertise to the region.

“The people we have met from the EU really didn’t have any idea about our tidal resources,” said Travers. The Bay of Fundy’s tides are ten times the height of tides in Copenhagen.

“When we present our company’s history to an international audience - that we’ve been around since 1927 and we’ve consistently delivered renewable sources since then- together with the incredible people resources and natural resources here, it is a really good story to tell.”

The company’s St. Croix hydroelectric plant has been producing green energy in West Hants since 1935. The addition of wind turbines, recycled paper and plastic waste to carbon marketing to its operations support the company’s progressive steps to address long-term sustainability. Then there is its recent partnership with Marine Current Turbines’ technically advanced SeaGen tidal generator. The SeaGen unit -successfully operating since 2008 in the narrows of Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland - is currently the only commercial turbine in the world hooked up and delivering energy to the grid. SeaGen produces 5 mega-watts, enough energy to power approximately 1500 households, and has minimal environmental impact.

The company’s marine science experts estimate approximately 2,000 mega-watts of in-stream energy can be safely extracted from the Bay of Fundy’s tidal flows. “Renewable energy resources of this magnitude cannot help but attract global attention from a social, political, financial and environmental perspective,” said Travers.

While he’s pleased the company received a tremendous response, he added there is still work to do.

“The reality is that the economic climate is not great at the moment, so we’re not getting cheques thrown at us yet. An important part of this exercise will be to follow up on the interest we’ve had from people throughout the EU.”

Travers also credits government, particularly the Province, for the success of Minas Basin in recent years and in Copenhagen. “Interdepartmental co-operation coupled with private sector input has prepared Nova Scotia for global leadership. It has sent clear messages to the international investment community that Nova Scotia is open for business.”

“But we also will need more leaders at the federal level to help leverage support for capital costs so we can all play in the Bay ethically, ” he said.

Travers’ trip to Copenhagen came days after a groundbreaking event for the Hantsport company as they were contracted to provide electricity to the Town of Berwick. Travers says they are looking forward to expanding this service and passing along savings to other municipal utilities such as Chester, Bridgewater and Antigonish.

Although Minas Basin Pulp and Power is one of the original developers of power generation, transmission and distribution in the province, the company has, “put a lot of effort over the past ten years to get changes made to the market so it can be more competitive.”

“We have shown that Nova Scotia Power is not the only company in the province that can buy and sell electricity.”

Blogger's Note: It does not report here whether these turbines have mechanisms to protect sea life, nor does it say what they plan to do about the raise in temperature to the sea water that turbines produce.