Captain Nemo’s Dream: How Europe Draws Power from the Sea
By Steven Hill | Tuesday, February 23, 2010
While wind and solar power are the most common forms of renewable energy deployed in Europe, other energy forms are gradually being utilized and show impressive potential. One of these is power derived from the sea. Steven Hill, the author of "Europe's Promise," discusses how the EU is developing this unconventional alternative energy source.
arnessing the sea has long been the stuff of science fiction, the allure of seemingly limitless and continuous energy (unlike solar or wind, since the sun doesn’t always shine or the wind blow).
However, science fiction is becoming reality in Britain, Portugal, Spain and elsewhere.
With the services of a Scottish company, Portugal is the first country to pioneer an eye-popping new technology known as a “sea snake” or “energy eel.” Sea snakes are long, floating cylinders that bob semi-submerged in the waves and convert wave motion to electricity.
Europe has long led the world in marshaling power from the sea. The world’s first tidal station was the Rance Estuary dam, built in Brittany, France, in 1966.
Each sea snake is about 400 feet (120 meters) long and 11 feet in diameter and is composed of three or four segments linked together, end to end. The ocean’s constant wave motion causes them to undulate in the sea like a giant snake, up and down and side to side, the motion pumping fluid through pistons that drive generators, both of which are housed inside the cylinders.
The power produced is then fed into underwater cables and brought to land, the entire array composing a wave farm that provides energy that is inexhaustible and more predictable than wind or solar power.
Portugal’s first sea snake had three segments, producing over two megawatts of power, which met the electricity needs of an entire coastal village — some 1,500 homes. Now Portugal is planning to expand that to 30 segments capable of producing 20 megawatts of power, sufficient for 15,000 households, saving some 30 million tons of carbon emissions.
Scotland also has purchased four of the sea snake segments to produce three megawatts of power off the coast near the Orkneys, with talk of expanding to a 30-megawatt wave farm that would occupy a half square mile of ocean and provide sufficient electricity for 20,000 homes. Twenty of these farms could power a city the size of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
Europe has long led the world in marshaling power from the sea. The world’s first tidal station was the Rance Estuary dam, built in Brittany, France, in 1966. The station harnesses an exceptional tide differential with a range of 27 feet to produce 240 megawatts of power for 100,000 homes.
In this age of oil uncertainty and unstable energy prices, Europeans are experimenting with all sorts of renewable energy and transportation options that previously had limited appeal.
But modern technology is allowing the futuristic promise of tidal energy to step up to a new level. Britain is pushing forward with a new tidal machine that has created a stir of excitement. Imagine taking a windmill, turning it on its side, and sinking it into the ocean.
That, in effect, is what engineers have done in the Bristol Channel, south of Wales, about a mile off the British coast. Sixty feet beneath the sea surface, 35-foot-long turbines turn 17.5 times a minute, generating renewable energy from the water’s current. Above the surface, only a white and red-striped tower is visible.
Just as dozens of windmills can be deployed in a field to create a wind farm, these underwater “seamills” create the possibility of grids of undersea turbines producing hundreds of megawatts of carbon-free power — an energy sea farm.
Europe is employing a whole array of these energy technologies and more. Italy, Iceland, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal are developing geothermal energy, which makes use of the earth’s interior heat to produce steam that rotates turbines. Italy has 95% of the EU’s installed capacity, and volcanic Iceland produces over 50% of its electricity from geothermal sources.
The EU overall is nearly on track for reaching its 2010 target of generating 21% of its electricity needs (excluding transportation) from renewable energy sources.
In 2007, Germany generated 14% of its electricity consumption from renewable energy, preventing 114 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, the United States generates a paltry 6% of electricity from renewables.
Portugal is the first to pioneer a new technology known as “sea snakes,” which are long, floating cylinders that bob semi-submerged in the waves and convert wave motion to electricity.
In this age of oil uncertainty and unstable energy prices, and with the urgency of Europe’s governments to meet their goals for sustainable energy and greenhouse gas reductions, Europeans are experimenting with all sorts of renewable energy and transportation options that previously had limited appeal.
Each country is deploying different technologies and acting as a laboratory for the others, plotting a meandering course toward the future. Motivated by the increasingly urgent crisis of global climate change, previously futuristic ideas now are seen to be within reach scientifically as well as economically.
Of course, such pronouncements and proclamations would be hot air without the funding to back them up. But substantial capital investments are being made — not only by governments, but also by venture capitalists, major banks, financial institutions and blue chip technology companies.
At a national energy summit convened by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany’s energy industry pledged to invest $50 billion in new renewable energy infrastructure by 2012, with $20 billion in the solar industry alone. On a per capita basis, that would be equivalent to the United States investing $180 billion, nearly $30 billion per year, in renewable energy — an unprecedented sum.
The outline of a low carbon economy is emerging, with Europe at the forefront. “Renewable energy is the source of energy for the future,” says Manuel Pinho, Portugal’s economics minister. “We think this can create an industrial revolution and a lot of opportunities for jobs and research, and we want to be ahead of the curve.”
That’s how Europe is viewing this — as a new industrial revolution. And it is at the lead of this revolution.
Editor's Note: This feature has been adapted from EUROPE'S PROMISE by Steven Hill, published by the University of California Press. Copyright 2010 Steven Hill. Reprinted with permission of the author.
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
Dexter Touts Fundy Tides in Washington
Premier’s power point
Dexter promotes Fundy’s renewable energy in Washington
By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Tue. Feb 23 - 4:53 AM
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, centre, talks with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert as National Governors Association chairman James Douglas of Vermont looks on at left in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.(Cliff Owen / AP)
Promoting Bay of Fundy tidal power was at the top of Premier Darrell Dexter’s agenda in Washington last weekend.
Dexter and other Canadian premiers met with United States governors, senators, and two top federal officials — Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — to talk about renewable energy and carbon emission regulations.
There is debate in the United States about whether some types of hydroelectric power, particularly associated with dams, should qualify as a renewable resource because of its effect on the environment.
Dexter said Monday he wanted to be sure Wellinghoff knew that the Nova Scotia project is different.
"In-stream tidal (is) of a wholly different nature, and that we were proceeding with a regulatory regime that was, of course, going to respect the proper environmental stewardship"" of the Bay of Fundy, Dexter said during a conference call from the Centre for Naval Analyses, a non-profit research organization in Washington.
Dexter was one of seven premiers at the first meeting of the Council of the Federation and the National Governors Association. The former is a group of Canadian premiers and the later American governors.
Scott Travers, president of Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. Ltd., and John Woods, the company’s vice-president, joined Dexter in discussing the potential for tidal power.
Minas Basin is one of three proponents involved in a test project in the bay. The company, with technology partner Marine Current Turbines Ltd. of Bristol, England, plan to install a turbine in the bay in 2011, a year later than hoped.
Another prototype planned by Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of British Columbia and its partner, Alstom, is also scheduled to go in the water next year rather than this one.
Nova Scotia Power and its Irish partner, OpenHydro, put a turbine in the water last year, but it isn’t hooked up to the grid yet.
Potential energy exports are still years away, but Dexter said it’s not too early to lay some groundwork.
"We want to be a world leader in tidal technology," he said.
"In terms of utility planning and energy planning, this is not something that’s done on a year-to-year basis. These kinds of planning initiatives look out 10, and 15, and 20 years, and it would be dreadfully ill-advised, I think, to take the narrow view that you only look to the near-term."
Dexter said he also talked with Jackson about how the United States may regulate carbon emissions, and the potential impact on Nova Scotia manufacturers.
The premier said he also met with some business leaders, including officials with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
Last April, the company announced that it would add 100 more employees to its Halifax staff of 80 over five years. The province is supporting the expansion with a $1.8-million payroll rebate.
Dexter said the company continues to look for opportunities in Nova Scotia and has identified possibilities, but he couldn’t offer any specifics.
"We were there, really, to encourage their increase in their investment in the province and to ensure that they know that we’re appreciative of the jobs that they’ve already brought into the province," the premier said.
Lockheed Martin’s business in Halifax includes being the prime contractor for $1.4 billion in work upgrading the Canadian navy’s combat management and control systems on 12 Halifax-class frigates.
There is also a second contract that will run to 2024, worth $600 million, for in-service support of those systems.
( djackson@herald.ca)
‘We want to be a
world leader in tidal technology.’
PREMIER DARRELL DEXTER
Dexter promotes Fundy’s renewable energy in Washington
By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter
Tue. Feb 23 - 4:53 AM
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, centre, talks with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert as National Governors Association chairman James Douglas of Vermont looks on at left in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.(Cliff Owen / AP)
Promoting Bay of Fundy tidal power was at the top of Premier Darrell Dexter’s agenda in Washington last weekend.
Dexter and other Canadian premiers met with United States governors, senators, and two top federal officials — Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission — to talk about renewable energy and carbon emission regulations.
There is debate in the United States about whether some types of hydroelectric power, particularly associated with dams, should qualify as a renewable resource because of its effect on the environment.
Dexter said Monday he wanted to be sure Wellinghoff knew that the Nova Scotia project is different.
"In-stream tidal (is) of a wholly different nature, and that we were proceeding with a regulatory regime that was, of course, going to respect the proper environmental stewardship"" of the Bay of Fundy, Dexter said during a conference call from the Centre for Naval Analyses, a non-profit research organization in Washington.
Dexter was one of seven premiers at the first meeting of the Council of the Federation and the National Governors Association. The former is a group of Canadian premiers and the later American governors.
Scott Travers, president of Minas Basin Pulp and Power Co. Ltd., and John Woods, the company’s vice-president, joined Dexter in discussing the potential for tidal power.
Minas Basin is one of three proponents involved in a test project in the bay. The company, with technology partner Marine Current Turbines Ltd. of Bristol, England, plan to install a turbine in the bay in 2011, a year later than hoped.
Another prototype planned by Clean Current Power Systems Inc. of British Columbia and its partner, Alstom, is also scheduled to go in the water next year rather than this one.
Nova Scotia Power and its Irish partner, OpenHydro, put a turbine in the water last year, but it isn’t hooked up to the grid yet.
Potential energy exports are still years away, but Dexter said it’s not too early to lay some groundwork.
"We want to be a world leader in tidal technology," he said.
"In terms of utility planning and energy planning, this is not something that’s done on a year-to-year basis. These kinds of planning initiatives look out 10, and 15, and 20 years, and it would be dreadfully ill-advised, I think, to take the narrow view that you only look to the near-term."
Dexter said he also talked with Jackson about how the United States may regulate carbon emissions, and the potential impact on Nova Scotia manufacturers.
The premier said he also met with some business leaders, including officials with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
Last April, the company announced that it would add 100 more employees to its Halifax staff of 80 over five years. The province is supporting the expansion with a $1.8-million payroll rebate.
Dexter said the company continues to look for opportunities in Nova Scotia and has identified possibilities, but he couldn’t offer any specifics.
"We were there, really, to encourage their increase in their investment in the province and to ensure that they know that we’re appreciative of the jobs that they’ve already brought into the province," the premier said.
Lockheed Martin’s business in Halifax includes being the prime contractor for $1.4 billion in work upgrading the Canadian navy’s combat management and control systems on 12 Halifax-class frigates.
There is also a second contract that will run to 2024, worth $600 million, for in-service support of those systems.
( djackson@herald.ca)
‘We want to be a
world leader in tidal technology.’
PREMIER DARRELL DEXTER
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Alec Baldwin-yes,him!- on Nuclear Power
Alec BaldwinActor
Posted: February 22, 2010 12:41 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index
The Truth About Nuclear Power in Utility Reactors
It was in 1996 that I was first contacted by an organization called the Standing for Truth About Radiation (STAR) Foundation. The Long Island-based group, a loose bundle of veterans of the anti-nuclear movement, local artists, businessmen with large investments in second homes on the East End and scientists with a career-long dedication to the issue were attempting to raise awareness about the Brookhaven National Laboratory and its nuclear-powered research facility, the High Flux Beam Reactor.
The reactor operations at Brookhaven were reported to have released billions of gallons of tritiated water into the headwaters of the Peconic River during the period of its operations from 1965 to 1996. BNL, the U.S. Army's former Camp Upton and the site of decades-long research into all things nuclear, had been the base of operations for some of the earliest work on the atomic bomb. A coalition of different community groups had been opposing the HFBR at BNL for years. Pro-business lobbying groups warned that closing the reactor would have dire consequences to the Long Island economy, as national laboratories, with their high-skill, high-paying jobs, were viewed as "sexy" components of any area's business landscape. Opponents of BNL pointed out that levels of soft tissue cancers and rare diseases such as rhabdomyosarcoma were extraordinarily higher adjacent to the water recharge area near the lab. More effectively, the anti-BNL groups pointed out that Long Islanders had already voiced their opinion of having nuclear reactors in the area when they agreed to absorb the unconscionable amount of money necessary to shutter the Shoreham nuclear power plant several years earlier.
The Long Island Lighting Company, one of the most horrifically mismanaged public utilities in U.S. history, had thrown the switch and already gone "online" with a utility reactor on the North Shore of Suffolk County, a decision that represented a game of chicken with the area's rate payers. Once the reactor went "hot", any move to shut it down would surely mean hundreds of millions of dollars extra in decommissioning and decontamination costs. Long Island residents said, "Bring it on." Already the highest utility rate payers in the forty-eight contiguous states, LILCO customers absorbed billions in costs, amortized over several years, and Shoreham closed. Soon after that, then Governor George Pataki set up another darling of Albany politicos, a quasi-public authority (the Long Island Power Authority or LIPA) to, among other things, evacuate LILCO's overpaid executives who were responsible for the Shoreham debacle. All the information you could possibly want on this issue was brilliantly covered by one of the greatest journalists in the area, Karl Grossman.
Shoreham was closed because even the Feds could not argue that Long Island had no effective evacuation plan, a vital issue for people who would have to either bottleneck through the biggest city in the U.S. or swim to Connecticut in the event of some disaster. That fear also applied to BNL. Soon, the HFBR was closed as well.
During that time, I became acquainted with Dr. Ernest Sternglass, whose work (studying the accumulation of ambient radioactive materials which mimic calcium in the developing human fetus and, thus, serve as scientifically effective markers for radiological spikes in the atmosphere) helped to leverage the test ban treaty during President Kennedy's administration. Dr. Sternglass, along with Dr. Jay M. Gould, founded the Radiation and Public Health Project, which I support today. In 1996, during the period where BNL was on one burner, RPHP turned my attention toward the reactor mess in Millstone, Connecticut; Millstone is one of the dirtiest and most often fined reactors in this country. We gathered information about Indian Point, and worried about implications of a containment breach there long before 9/11 heightened that risk. We gathered information about Oak Ridge, Tennessee, The Gaseous Diffusion plant in Piketon, Ohio. The problems with operations at Dresden, Illinois. At Turkey Point in Florida. And we immersed ourselves in the problems surrounding the Oyster Creek facility in Tom's River, New Jersey.
I started going down to Oyster Creek in 1996. I returned there with a 60 Minutes camera crew a couple of years ago. I have a strong and abiding belief that true knowledge of what does and does not go on in Tom's River, as well as in both Trenton and Washington, combined with unbiased knowledge about nuclear power in utility reactors could kill any of the talk about reviving this industry. The truth not only could but would kill it, if it were known and were disseminated in the press fairly.
In my next post I will comment on last Saturday's broadcast of Weekend Edition on NPR and how Scott Simon appallingly allowed Stewart Brand to burble on and on with his outrageous pablum about "the new safe and clean nuclear power." I will tell you some of what I have learned during the years I've worked with RPHP down in Tom's River and how I view some of the efforts I have joined, with people like the tireless and courageous Joe Mangano who now heads RPHP, as some of the most important work I have ever undertaken.
Posted: February 22, 2010 12:41 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index
The Truth About Nuclear Power in Utility Reactors
It was in 1996 that I was first contacted by an organization called the Standing for Truth About Radiation (STAR) Foundation. The Long Island-based group, a loose bundle of veterans of the anti-nuclear movement, local artists, businessmen with large investments in second homes on the East End and scientists with a career-long dedication to the issue were attempting to raise awareness about the Brookhaven National Laboratory and its nuclear-powered research facility, the High Flux Beam Reactor.
The reactor operations at Brookhaven were reported to have released billions of gallons of tritiated water into the headwaters of the Peconic River during the period of its operations from 1965 to 1996. BNL, the U.S. Army's former Camp Upton and the site of decades-long research into all things nuclear, had been the base of operations for some of the earliest work on the atomic bomb. A coalition of different community groups had been opposing the HFBR at BNL for years. Pro-business lobbying groups warned that closing the reactor would have dire consequences to the Long Island economy, as national laboratories, with their high-skill, high-paying jobs, were viewed as "sexy" components of any area's business landscape. Opponents of BNL pointed out that levels of soft tissue cancers and rare diseases such as rhabdomyosarcoma were extraordinarily higher adjacent to the water recharge area near the lab. More effectively, the anti-BNL groups pointed out that Long Islanders had already voiced their opinion of having nuclear reactors in the area when they agreed to absorb the unconscionable amount of money necessary to shutter the Shoreham nuclear power plant several years earlier.
The Long Island Lighting Company, one of the most horrifically mismanaged public utilities in U.S. history, had thrown the switch and already gone "online" with a utility reactor on the North Shore of Suffolk County, a decision that represented a game of chicken with the area's rate payers. Once the reactor went "hot", any move to shut it down would surely mean hundreds of millions of dollars extra in decommissioning and decontamination costs. Long Island residents said, "Bring it on." Already the highest utility rate payers in the forty-eight contiguous states, LILCO customers absorbed billions in costs, amortized over several years, and Shoreham closed. Soon after that, then Governor George Pataki set up another darling of Albany politicos, a quasi-public authority (the Long Island Power Authority or LIPA) to, among other things, evacuate LILCO's overpaid executives who were responsible for the Shoreham debacle. All the information you could possibly want on this issue was brilliantly covered by one of the greatest journalists in the area, Karl Grossman.
Shoreham was closed because even the Feds could not argue that Long Island had no effective evacuation plan, a vital issue for people who would have to either bottleneck through the biggest city in the U.S. or swim to Connecticut in the event of some disaster. That fear also applied to BNL. Soon, the HFBR was closed as well.
During that time, I became acquainted with Dr. Ernest Sternglass, whose work (studying the accumulation of ambient radioactive materials which mimic calcium in the developing human fetus and, thus, serve as scientifically effective markers for radiological spikes in the atmosphere) helped to leverage the test ban treaty during President Kennedy's administration. Dr. Sternglass, along with Dr. Jay M. Gould, founded the Radiation and Public Health Project, which I support today. In 1996, during the period where BNL was on one burner, RPHP turned my attention toward the reactor mess in Millstone, Connecticut; Millstone is one of the dirtiest and most often fined reactors in this country. We gathered information about Indian Point, and worried about implications of a containment breach there long before 9/11 heightened that risk. We gathered information about Oak Ridge, Tennessee, The Gaseous Diffusion plant in Piketon, Ohio. The problems with operations at Dresden, Illinois. At Turkey Point in Florida. And we immersed ourselves in the problems surrounding the Oyster Creek facility in Tom's River, New Jersey.
I started going down to Oyster Creek in 1996. I returned there with a 60 Minutes camera crew a couple of years ago. I have a strong and abiding belief that true knowledge of what does and does not go on in Tom's River, as well as in both Trenton and Washington, combined with unbiased knowledge about nuclear power in utility reactors could kill any of the talk about reviving this industry. The truth not only could but would kill it, if it were known and were disseminated in the press fairly.
In my next post I will comment on last Saturday's broadcast of Weekend Edition on NPR and how Scott Simon appallingly allowed Stewart Brand to burble on and on with his outrageous pablum about "the new safe and clean nuclear power." I will tell you some of what I have learned during the years I've worked with RPHP down in Tom's River and how I view some of the efforts I have joined, with people like the tireless and courageous Joe Mangano who now heads RPHP, as some of the most important work I have ever undertaken.
NS: Watts Wind Energy and NSP strike deal
By Staff, Transcontinental Media
Source: The Daily Business Buzz, Feb. 23, 2010
[DARTMOUTH, NS] — Watts Wind Energy Inc., a joint venture between renewable energy operators Seaforth Engineering and Eon WindElectric, has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Nova Scotia Power Inc.
Watts plans to install a single 1.5 MW Vensys V77 wind turbine at Watt Section, NS. The company has measured wind data at the site since October 2008 and said it is looking forward to implementing the project this year.
Seaforth Energy Inc., headquartered in Dartmouth, has been contracted to manage Watts Wind Energy. Eon WindElectric, an Atlantic Canadian wind farm installation and servicing firm, will be providing wind consulting and project management services.
In addition to cash investment from the principals, the Watts project will also be financed with a mix of secured debt and equity capital. The current intent of Watts is to annually distribute most of its net profits to shareholders by way of dividends after paying all expenses and contributing to a capital reserve account, rather than reinvesting any profits into Watts Wind Energy which could be used for future wind development, to purchase more wind turbines or for other purposes.
Although the current intent is that Watts will own the entire wind project, it may choose to sell a portion of the project, partner or joint venture with another company to develop the project, spin off the project into a new entity which could be partially owned by Watts or otherwise take actions whereby it would only own a portion of the project.
Watts Wind Energy is being organized as a special purpose Community Economic Development Investment Fund (CEDIF), which is RRSP eligible and provides the potential for up to 65 per cent in tax benefits to eligible Nova Scotia investors, subject to various conditions.
By Staff, Transcontinental Media
Source: The Daily Business Buzz, Feb. 23, 2010
[DARTMOUTH, NS] — Watts Wind Energy Inc., a joint venture between renewable energy operators Seaforth Engineering and Eon WindElectric, has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Nova Scotia Power Inc.
Watts plans to install a single 1.5 MW Vensys V77 wind turbine at Watt Section, NS. The company has measured wind data at the site since October 2008 and said it is looking forward to implementing the project this year.
Seaforth Energy Inc., headquartered in Dartmouth, has been contracted to manage Watts Wind Energy. Eon WindElectric, an Atlantic Canadian wind farm installation and servicing firm, will be providing wind consulting and project management services.
In addition to cash investment from the principals, the Watts project will also be financed with a mix of secured debt and equity capital. The current intent of Watts is to annually distribute most of its net profits to shareholders by way of dividends after paying all expenses and contributing to a capital reserve account, rather than reinvesting any profits into Watts Wind Energy which could be used for future wind development, to purchase more wind turbines or for other purposes.
Although the current intent is that Watts will own the entire wind project, it may choose to sell a portion of the project, partner or joint venture with another company to develop the project, spin off the project into a new entity which could be partially owned by Watts or otherwise take actions whereby it would only own a portion of the project.
Watts Wind Energy is being organized as a special purpose Community Economic Development Investment Fund (CEDIF), which is RRSP eligible and provides the potential for up to 65 per cent in tax benefits to eligible Nova Scotia investors, subject to various conditions.
Unesco Biosphere Reserve
You're Invited !
Developing Sustinable Tourism Experiences within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Workshop; March 30 & 31 2010
The Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Association in partnership with the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism (GMIST) and White Point Beach Resort invite you to attend this workshop Tuesday March 30th and Wednesday March 31st, 2010 hosted at the White Point Beach Resort, White Point, NS.
DID YOU KNOW ?DID YOU KNOW:
In 2001, the five most southern counties in Southwest Nova earned the distinguished designation of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in recognition of its globally significant ecological and cultural landscape from the Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO - one of only 15 in Canada and 500 around the world. Fostering the recognition and awareness of the Biosphere Reserve is the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Association (www.snbra.ca). One of its mandates is to assist in the development and collaboration of multi-sector tourism products and partnerships. This workshop is designed to achieve just such mandate.
THE POTENTIAL :
The potential.Phenomenal. We have an internationally recognized UNESCO designation that showcases our best attributes - our natural assets. We have an extensive inventory of existing nature reserves and parks, museums and historic sites, beaches, campgrounds, accommodations, cuisine, festivals, crafters and artisans, guides, and more that bring the Biosphere to life.
As determined by research undertaken by NS Tourism, visitors to Nova Scotia are attracted to our Seacoast, Outdoors, Culture, Cuisine, Heritage and Urban experiences. Within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere, we have 4 out of 5!
Building on our strengths, let's package the pieces together and deliver year-round UNESCO Biosphere experiences in the marketplace.
THE OPPORTUNITY :
Develop and deliver exceptional sustainable year-round tourism packages and itineraries that deliver authentic, hands-on, engaging experiences for visitors to truly connect with and explore the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve. Ultimately, we'll enhance the viability and sustainability of tourism and related businesses and suppliers.
Register Now ! Call White Point Beach Resort at 1.800.565.5068
Full registration information below
For more information contact Maegan Power Noble at
maegan.power-noble@nscc.ca
Developing Sustinable Tourism Experiences within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Workshop; March 30 & 31 2010
The Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Association in partnership with the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism (GMIST) and White Point Beach Resort invite you to attend this workshop Tuesday March 30th and Wednesday March 31st, 2010 hosted at the White Point Beach Resort, White Point, NS.
DID YOU KNOW ?DID YOU KNOW:
In 2001, the five most southern counties in Southwest Nova earned the distinguished designation of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in recognition of its globally significant ecological and cultural landscape from the Man and the Biosphere Programme of UNESCO - one of only 15 in Canada and 500 around the world. Fostering the recognition and awareness of the Biosphere Reserve is the Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve Association (www.snbra.ca). One of its mandates is to assist in the development and collaboration of multi-sector tourism products and partnerships. This workshop is designed to achieve just such mandate.
THE POTENTIAL :
The potential.Phenomenal. We have an internationally recognized UNESCO designation that showcases our best attributes - our natural assets. We have an extensive inventory of existing nature reserves and parks, museums and historic sites, beaches, campgrounds, accommodations, cuisine, festivals, crafters and artisans, guides, and more that bring the Biosphere to life.
As determined by research undertaken by NS Tourism, visitors to Nova Scotia are attracted to our Seacoast, Outdoors, Culture, Cuisine, Heritage and Urban experiences. Within the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere, we have 4 out of 5!
Building on our strengths, let's package the pieces together and deliver year-round UNESCO Biosphere experiences in the marketplace.
THE OPPORTUNITY :
Develop and deliver exceptional sustainable year-round tourism packages and itineraries that deliver authentic, hands-on, engaging experiences for visitors to truly connect with and explore the UNESCO Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve. Ultimately, we'll enhance the viability and sustainability of tourism and related businesses and suppliers.
Register Now ! Call White Point Beach Resort at 1.800.565.5068
Full registration information below
For more information contact Maegan Power Noble at
maegan.power-noble@nscc.ca
Monday, February 22, 2010
Loss of the CAT- A View from Maine
Anchors aweigh The CAT’s departure ushers in new possibilities for the Ocean Gateway terminal
By ROBERT M. COOK
Mainebiz Staff Reporter
Today
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Jan Beitzer, Portland’s downtown district director, gazes out at the open waters of Portland harbor, she sees more than containers stacked for transport, bobbing lobster buoys and the prospective home of a new mega berth for visiting cruise ships. She sees all kinds of potential.
“When you bring 70,000 people to town, the ship is here for eight to 12 hours and people fan out and patronize all sorts of businesses,” Beitzer says. “It is an economic development cluster that is significant for the city and we must do all we can to promote it.”
That includes picking itself up and dusting off the disappointment that followed the departure of The CAT high-speed ferry service from the Ocean Gateway International Marine Terminal in December. The ferry service was the anchor tenant in the $20.7 million, state-of-the-art terminal that opened in 2008. Long term, the city sees the terminal as a vital component in its growing cruise ship industry, regardless of whether The CAT or other ferry service is restored. Enhancing that industry — which is projected to grow 32% in ship visits in 2010 versus 2009 — is a priority.
City Manager Joe Gray found out Feb. 17 that an application requesting $8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to complete a second mega deep-water berth on the eastern side of the terminal was denied. He says he intends to meet with city councilors and Maine’s congressional delegation to seek other funds. If completed, the second mega berth would allow the terminal to accommodate larger vessels, such as the Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled to visit Portland in 2011, says Nicole Clegg, a spokeswoman for the city. It could also be a potential home for the USS John F. Kennedy, a decommissioned Navy aircraft carrier.
The second berth would allow the city to host three cruise ships in one day, she says, significantly expanding its ability to welcome tourists.
Last year, the city saw 48 cruise ships that brought 70,000 visitors, and in 2010 the city expects to see 71 cruise ships that will deliver 80,000 visitors, Clegg says.
“Every year we’ve set a record,” she says.
When the city hosted 31 cruise ships in 2008, visitors pumped $6 million to $8 million into the city and other Maine communities when they boarded tour buses and traveled elsewhere, according to Clegg, citing the most recent statistics available.
Pining for the Scotia Prince Ironically, revenues from the growing cruise ship industry and The CAT ferry pale by comparison to the local revenues generated by the Scotia Prince, The CAT’s precursor that stopped service in 2004 after suffering some financial hardship. Mark Hudson, a former vice president of finance and communications for Scotia Prince cruises, told Mainebiz in 2004 that the ferry pumped $53 million a year into the Greater Portland region.
Don Haggett, sales director of Bangor-based Lafayette Hotels, believes it. He says his three hotels in Portland saw much more business from visitors who used the Scotia Prince than The CAT.
The Scotia Prince — regarded by many as a harbinger of spring — gave travelers more options than The CAT, he says, allowing people who traveled from Nova Scotia to stay in the city for a few days or travel to Lafayette hotels in seaside communities like Wells and Ogunquit.
Unlike The CAT, the Scotia Prince was also capable of transporting buses and trucks to and from the Canadian Maritime province.
“We need a ship like that,” he says. “The Scotia Prince was an attraction and a floating hotel,” that featured a casino and live entertainment.
Haggett says the cruise ship business has been great for the area, but it doesn’t fill his 600 hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, the Holiday Inn West and the Best Western Merry Manor Inn.
The greatest benefit he derives from the cruise ship industry is that it brings people to the city and makes them want to come back and vacation here. “We give them the sample and hopefully they buy the box of chocolates,” Haggett says.
The CAT’s departure The CAT’s impact was much more subtle and, therefore, harder to measure, says Barbara Whitten, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland. Unlike cruise ships that yield thousands of visitors who descend on the Old Port all at once and spend money, Whitten says some CAT passengers stayed at a Portland hotel before or after they used the service, while others arrived in the city a few hours before they headed to Nova Scotia.
George Driscoll, vice president of marketing and sales in The CAT’s Portland office, said more than half of the 76,000 CAT passengers in 2009 took the ferry out of Portland; the others boarded in Bar Harbor. By his estimates, The CAT pumped $7 million into the Greater Portland economy in 2009.
But the high-speed ferry service (a one-way trip to Yarmouth was five and half hours versus 11 hours on the slower Scotia Prince ) failed in its quest to get a $6 million to $7 million subsidy from the Canadian government to operate in 2010. Mark MacDonald, president and CEO of Bay Ferries Limited, owner of The CAT, announced the service was discontinued on Dec. 15.
The loss of the service means more than just fewer options for travelers to get to Nova Scotia. According to Clegg, Bay Ferries Limited leased the Ocean Gateway terminal for $103,000 in 2009. Unless another ferry service is found, she says the city will not recover that money.
By comparison, cruise ships paid the city $33,000 in berthing fees in 2009 whenever they tied up at Ocean Gateway, she says. The city also logged $59,000 in revenue during fiscal year 2009 from weddings and events held at the terminal. She says the facility, which has a maximum occupancy of 500 people, is expected to generate $65,000 in this fiscal year.
All tallied, the city received about $195,000 in revenue from the terminal last year, $85,000 shy of its $280,000 annual debt service on the structure. Portland ponied up $4.1 million to build the terminal, with the federal government contributing $4.5 million and the state paying more than $12 million. Clegg says the city is scheduled to pay off its portion of the Ocean Gate terminal project by 2028.
Seeking other tenants The decision to develop the Ocean Gateway International Marine Terminal was well-thought out and a decade in the making, an innovative use of a former Bath Iron Works dry dock that had been used to repair Navy ships, says Clegg.
But not everyone was on board with the decision or the cost.
As much as his business has benefitted from cruise ship visitors, Steve DiMillo, whose family owns DiMillo’s restaurant on the waterfront, says he never liked the city’s decision to spend so much money to build a facility that will never generate revenue year-round.
Besides the cruise ships and a ferry service, DiMillo says, “I don’t really have another use for it.”
Like Haggett, he would prefer to see the city get another vessel similar to the Scotia Prince or the Prince of Fundy to serve Portland because they generated more business for him than The CAT.
Haggett says better still, landing the USS Kennedy would create a year-round tourist draw at the Ocean Gateway terminal. Such an attraction would bring plenty of military reunions and visitors who would stay in the city for two or three days, he says. A group supporting the effort to bring the warship to Portland, JFK for ME, recently announced its application passed the Navy’s first round of testing.
Beitzer, whose group represents 485 businesses, including 154 retail shops and more than 100 restaurants in the Old Port and the Arts District, says she’s looking forward to the completion of the second mega berth so larger cruise ships will be able to be in port, rather than in the harbor where they have to use launches to taxi visitors to and from the city.
Some of those tourists will likely find their way to the convention bureau’s visitor information center at the Ocean Gateway terminal, which is maintained from March to October and will continue to be staffed regardless if The CAT service is restored, Whitten says. The Ocean Gateway terminal provides tour buses and individual travelers with a place to park, stretch their legs and get information about the city.
Like Beitzer, many hope those visitors will be captivated by the Ocean Gateway terminal’s views of Portland harbor, the impressive sight of large cruise ships in port and the terminal building’s architecture, which features towering glass windows.
“It’s a beautiful, unique space,” Beitzer says.
By ROBERT M. COOK
Mainebiz Staff Reporter
Today
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Jan Beitzer, Portland’s downtown district director, gazes out at the open waters of Portland harbor, she sees more than containers stacked for transport, bobbing lobster buoys and the prospective home of a new mega berth for visiting cruise ships. She sees all kinds of potential.
“When you bring 70,000 people to town, the ship is here for eight to 12 hours and people fan out and patronize all sorts of businesses,” Beitzer says. “It is an economic development cluster that is significant for the city and we must do all we can to promote it.”
That includes picking itself up and dusting off the disappointment that followed the departure of The CAT high-speed ferry service from the Ocean Gateway International Marine Terminal in December. The ferry service was the anchor tenant in the $20.7 million, state-of-the-art terminal that opened in 2008. Long term, the city sees the terminal as a vital component in its growing cruise ship industry, regardless of whether The CAT or other ferry service is restored. Enhancing that industry — which is projected to grow 32% in ship visits in 2010 versus 2009 — is a priority.
City Manager Joe Gray found out Feb. 17 that an application requesting $8 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to complete a second mega deep-water berth on the eastern side of the terminal was denied. He says he intends to meet with city councilors and Maine’s congressional delegation to seek other funds. If completed, the second mega berth would allow the terminal to accommodate larger vessels, such as the Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled to visit Portland in 2011, says Nicole Clegg, a spokeswoman for the city. It could also be a potential home for the USS John F. Kennedy, a decommissioned Navy aircraft carrier.
The second berth would allow the city to host three cruise ships in one day, she says, significantly expanding its ability to welcome tourists.
Last year, the city saw 48 cruise ships that brought 70,000 visitors, and in 2010 the city expects to see 71 cruise ships that will deliver 80,000 visitors, Clegg says.
“Every year we’ve set a record,” she says.
When the city hosted 31 cruise ships in 2008, visitors pumped $6 million to $8 million into the city and other Maine communities when they boarded tour buses and traveled elsewhere, according to Clegg, citing the most recent statistics available.
Pining for the Scotia Prince Ironically, revenues from the growing cruise ship industry and The CAT ferry pale by comparison to the local revenues generated by the Scotia Prince, The CAT’s precursor that stopped service in 2004 after suffering some financial hardship. Mark Hudson, a former vice president of finance and communications for Scotia Prince cruises, told Mainebiz in 2004 that the ferry pumped $53 million a year into the Greater Portland region.
Don Haggett, sales director of Bangor-based Lafayette Hotels, believes it. He says his three hotels in Portland saw much more business from visitors who used the Scotia Prince than The CAT.
The Scotia Prince — regarded by many as a harbinger of spring — gave travelers more options than The CAT, he says, allowing people who traveled from Nova Scotia to stay in the city for a few days or travel to Lafayette hotels in seaside communities like Wells and Ogunquit.
Unlike The CAT, the Scotia Prince was also capable of transporting buses and trucks to and from the Canadian Maritime province.
“We need a ship like that,” he says. “The Scotia Prince was an attraction and a floating hotel,” that featured a casino and live entertainment.
Haggett says the cruise ship business has been great for the area, but it doesn’t fill his 600 hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn by the Bay, the Holiday Inn West and the Best Western Merry Manor Inn.
The greatest benefit he derives from the cruise ship industry is that it brings people to the city and makes them want to come back and vacation here. “We give them the sample and hopefully they buy the box of chocolates,” Haggett says.
The CAT’s departure The CAT’s impact was much more subtle and, therefore, harder to measure, says Barbara Whitten, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Portland. Unlike cruise ships that yield thousands of visitors who descend on the Old Port all at once and spend money, Whitten says some CAT passengers stayed at a Portland hotel before or after they used the service, while others arrived in the city a few hours before they headed to Nova Scotia.
George Driscoll, vice president of marketing and sales in The CAT’s Portland office, said more than half of the 76,000 CAT passengers in 2009 took the ferry out of Portland; the others boarded in Bar Harbor. By his estimates, The CAT pumped $7 million into the Greater Portland economy in 2009.
But the high-speed ferry service (a one-way trip to Yarmouth was five and half hours versus 11 hours on the slower Scotia Prince ) failed in its quest to get a $6 million to $7 million subsidy from the Canadian government to operate in 2010. Mark MacDonald, president and CEO of Bay Ferries Limited, owner of The CAT, announced the service was discontinued on Dec. 15.
The loss of the service means more than just fewer options for travelers to get to Nova Scotia. According to Clegg, Bay Ferries Limited leased the Ocean Gateway terminal for $103,000 in 2009. Unless another ferry service is found, she says the city will not recover that money.
By comparison, cruise ships paid the city $33,000 in berthing fees in 2009 whenever they tied up at Ocean Gateway, she says. The city also logged $59,000 in revenue during fiscal year 2009 from weddings and events held at the terminal. She says the facility, which has a maximum occupancy of 500 people, is expected to generate $65,000 in this fiscal year.
All tallied, the city received about $195,000 in revenue from the terminal last year, $85,000 shy of its $280,000 annual debt service on the structure. Portland ponied up $4.1 million to build the terminal, with the federal government contributing $4.5 million and the state paying more than $12 million. Clegg says the city is scheduled to pay off its portion of the Ocean Gate terminal project by 2028.
Seeking other tenants The decision to develop the Ocean Gateway International Marine Terminal was well-thought out and a decade in the making, an innovative use of a former Bath Iron Works dry dock that had been used to repair Navy ships, says Clegg.
But not everyone was on board with the decision or the cost.
As much as his business has benefitted from cruise ship visitors, Steve DiMillo, whose family owns DiMillo’s restaurant on the waterfront, says he never liked the city’s decision to spend so much money to build a facility that will never generate revenue year-round.
Besides the cruise ships and a ferry service, DiMillo says, “I don’t really have another use for it.”
Like Haggett, he would prefer to see the city get another vessel similar to the Scotia Prince or the Prince of Fundy to serve Portland because they generated more business for him than The CAT.
Haggett says better still, landing the USS Kennedy would create a year-round tourist draw at the Ocean Gateway terminal. Such an attraction would bring plenty of military reunions and visitors who would stay in the city for two or three days, he says. A group supporting the effort to bring the warship to Portland, JFK for ME, recently announced its application passed the Navy’s first round of testing.
Beitzer, whose group represents 485 businesses, including 154 retail shops and more than 100 restaurants in the Old Port and the Arts District, says she’s looking forward to the completion of the second mega berth so larger cruise ships will be able to be in port, rather than in the harbor where they have to use launches to taxi visitors to and from the city.
Some of those tourists will likely find their way to the convention bureau’s visitor information center at the Ocean Gateway terminal, which is maintained from March to October and will continue to be staffed regardless if The CAT service is restored, Whitten says. The Ocean Gateway terminal provides tour buses and individual travelers with a place to park, stretch their legs and get information about the city.
Like Beitzer, many hope those visitors will be captivated by the Ocean Gateway terminal’s views of Portland harbor, the impressive sight of large cruise ships in port and the terminal building’s architecture, which features towering glass windows.
“It’s a beautiful, unique space,” Beitzer says.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Premier Dexter on His Trips
This following is an op-ed piece by Premier Darrell Dexter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week has been a busy and exciting one for Nova Scotia, and I am happy to say that there is still more to come. I have just wrapped up what I would describe as one of the most important trips that I have taken since becoming premier last June.
The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver was an ideal opportunity to promote Nova Scotia and all of its opportunities to the world. I am proud to say that we had overwhelming participation in the Atlantic Canada House, and the enthusiasm for our Bluenose province on Nova Scotia Day was through the roof.
I now plan to carry that momentum on to Washington, D.C., where, this weekend, Canada’s premiers will participate in the Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association.
It was Nova Scotia that last summer urged the Council of the Federation to conduct a Premier’s Mission to Washington to promote the advantages of the Canada-U.S. trade and energy relationship. This is a rare chance to meet with high-ranking American officials to highlight the unique opportunities available in Nova Scotia, particularly tidal power. To help in that regard, I will be joined for part of the trip by Scott Travers, president of Minas Basin Pulp and Power, an energy and environmental leader in Nova Scotia.
Throughout the mission, my fellow premiers and I will meet with members of President Barack Obama’s administration, governors, senators and members of Congress. We will explain the significant mutual benefits of fair and open trade and a more efficient border. We will also promote the importance of the two countries collaborating on our approach to climate change and green energy, because working together will help reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions, while maintaining energy security in our countries.
After the National Governor Association meetings, I will meet with business representatives and other government leaders to help ensure Nova Scotia remains an energy leader, and to see how we can work to create the secure jobs Nova Scotia’s economy needs.
I am doing this because I think it is important to learn more about the energy supply needs of our American neighbours. I am doing this to gain a better understanding of how their policy will impact our potential tidal and wind energy business opportunities in American markets. I am doing this to develop new business relationships with the United States, and nurture existing ones.
We need to shine a light on our province. We need share our many examples of innovative leadership, particularly our ability to harness the Bay of Fundy tides. There are tremendous opportunities for us to grow our economy through renewable energy sources and high-value green-technology jobs, right here at home.
These discussions with key political leaders help demonstrate Nova Scotia’s commitment to finding new and leading-edge solutions to boost our economy so all Nova Scotians share in a better future.
-30-
Media Contact: Jennifer Stewart
Premier’s Office
902-424-0007
Cell: 902-497-7198
E-mail: stewarjl@gov.ns.ca
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week has been a busy and exciting one for Nova Scotia, and I am happy to say that there is still more to come. I have just wrapped up what I would describe as one of the most important trips that I have taken since becoming premier last June.
The 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver was an ideal opportunity to promote Nova Scotia and all of its opportunities to the world. I am proud to say that we had overwhelming participation in the Atlantic Canada House, and the enthusiasm for our Bluenose province on Nova Scotia Day was through the roof.
I now plan to carry that momentum on to Washington, D.C., where, this weekend, Canada’s premiers will participate in the Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association.
It was Nova Scotia that last summer urged the Council of the Federation to conduct a Premier’s Mission to Washington to promote the advantages of the Canada-U.S. trade and energy relationship. This is a rare chance to meet with high-ranking American officials to highlight the unique opportunities available in Nova Scotia, particularly tidal power. To help in that regard, I will be joined for part of the trip by Scott Travers, president of Minas Basin Pulp and Power, an energy and environmental leader in Nova Scotia.
Throughout the mission, my fellow premiers and I will meet with members of President Barack Obama’s administration, governors, senators and members of Congress. We will explain the significant mutual benefits of fair and open trade and a more efficient border. We will also promote the importance of the two countries collaborating on our approach to climate change and green energy, because working together will help reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions, while maintaining energy security in our countries.
After the National Governor Association meetings, I will meet with business representatives and other government leaders to help ensure Nova Scotia remains an energy leader, and to see how we can work to create the secure jobs Nova Scotia’s economy needs.
I am doing this because I think it is important to learn more about the energy supply needs of our American neighbours. I am doing this to gain a better understanding of how their policy will impact our potential tidal and wind energy business opportunities in American markets. I am doing this to develop new business relationships with the United States, and nurture existing ones.
We need to shine a light on our province. We need share our many examples of innovative leadership, particularly our ability to harness the Bay of Fundy tides. There are tremendous opportunities for us to grow our economy through renewable energy sources and high-value green-technology jobs, right here at home.
These discussions with key political leaders help demonstrate Nova Scotia’s commitment to finding new and leading-edge solutions to boost our economy so all Nova Scotians share in a better future.
-30-
Media Contact: Jennifer Stewart
Premier’s Office
902-424-0007
Cell: 902-497-7198
E-mail: stewarjl@gov.ns.ca
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Premier Of NOva Scotia Dexter
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