Giant turbine finds a home in tidal energy’s ‘Holy Grail’

Bay of Fundy operation aims to become North America’s first grid-connected tidal farm

The Bay of Fundy’s claim to fame? The highest, most powerful tides on earth.

Seems an obvious place for North America’s first productive tidal energy farm, right?

That’s what Cape Sharp Tidal thinks, too—because in recent weeks, the company successfully deployed a 1,000-tonne turbine at a test site near Parrsboro, N.S.

The turbine was expected to begin generating electricity immediately. Cape Sharp Tidal, a joint venture between Emera Inc. and OpenHydro, a DCNS company, eventually plans to set up a pair of two-megawatt (MW), in-stream tidal turbines at the site—establishing North America’s first tidal array connected to an electrical grid.

“The subsea cable operation marks a significant milestone for global tidal energy development,” says Cape Sharp Tidal. “It will be the first grid-connected device at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE), and the largest in North America.”

Several renewable energy companies, including Minas Energy and Black Rock Tidal Power Inc., are testing turbine technologies in the Bay of Fundy—considered the “holy grail” of tidal energy potential.

The approaches range from Cape Sharp Tidal’s five-storey-tall turbines to smaller, floating turbine systems.

“The whole concept here is to have different technologies being tried out, to see what works best,” says Nova Scotia Energy Minister Michel Samson.

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