Water Turbines Spinning Their Wheels

Turbine project delayed
Design work pushes launch of two prototypes back a year
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Wed. Jan 13 - 4:46 AM
The redesign of underwater tidal turbines by Hantsport’s Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company Ltd. and Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of British Columbia has pushed back the launch of the two prototypes by another year, a Minas Basin official told The Chronicle Herald on Tuesday.

This is the second time the tidal power demonstration project has fallen behind schedule since the province announced two years ago that three prototypes would try to generate electricity from the Bay of Fundy tides.

"We are now targeting 2011 for deployment," said Minas Basin vice-president John Woods, who talked for both companies.

"We think we can build a better turbine if we can take a little bit longer, put more features in it and make it more robust for (the Bay of) Fundy."

Minas Basin and its technology partner Marine Current Turbines Ltd. of Bristol, England, had hoped to launch its SeaGen underwater turbine in 2010 and expected to spend between $15 million and $18 million to build and install the prototype.

Clean Current and its partner, international industrial giant Alstom, is also redesigning its proposed Mark III turbine, pushing its launch date to 2011 as well, Mr. Woods said. Clean Current was expected to spend about $10 million building and installing its prototype.

"We are taking our time to make sure that what we’ve got really . . . meets the Fundy standard," Mr. Woods said during a break in a meeting of tidal participants in Bedford.

The third group involved with the tidal power test project is Nova Scotia Power Inc. and its Irish partner, OpenHydro. They deposited their massive steel turbine on the Bay of Fundy’s seafloor on Nov. 12, 2009. The turbine is working but not connected to the power grid.

"Nova Scotia Power always knew theirs was spinning but can’t put it on the grid. We’re glad they are in the water because we are learning stuff," said Mr. Woods.

Last month Minas Basin and Marine Currents met in Copenhagen to discuss the redesign and set new construction dates, said Mr. Woods.

Minas Basin and Clean Current were not in a rush to deploy their technology because they wanted to wait until the costly submarine cables were installed and that was dependent upon federal government funding, he said.

On Monday the federal government announced it has earmarked between $10 million and $20 million under the Clean Energy Fund towards the multi-million dollar tidal energy project. The funding will help cover the cost of installing the $9-million underwater cables that carry the electricity to shore.

"Now that the federal government has declared its participation in this, we’re pretty certain we have money for cables," he said. "The project would have proceeded without federal government money but much slower."

The cables are expected to be ordered within the next two months and will take about 15 months to be delivered and installed, he said.

"The submarine cables will be ordered this year for installation in the spring of 2011. It doesn’t make much sense to have the turbine in the water with no cable," he said. "We will be in there a month after the cables are installed."

( jmyrden@herald.ca)