Long-awaited tidal power turbine to enter Bay of Fundy next month

A turbine for the Cape Sharp Tidal project is seen at the Pictou Shipyard in Pictou, N.S., on Thursday, May 19, 2016. Two turbines will be launched in the Bay of Fundy with the potential to provide energy to more than 1,000 customers in Nova Scotia by harnessing the power of the tides. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan)

PICTOU, N.S. -- The first of two towering turbines designed by Cape Sharp Tidal to harness the immense power of the Bay of Fundy will be installed next month off the coast of Nova Scotia, an company official announced Thursday.

Sarah Dawson, the community relations manager for the project, said one of the five-storey high, two-megawatt turbines built in Pictou by Aecon Atlantic Industrial Inc., will be loaded on a barge during the first week of June and travel around the province until it reaches the test site near Parrsboro.

That trip will take a couple of weeks.

"Our project aims to deploy two two-megawatt hydro devices at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) site, just west of Parrsboro, and we're aiming to put both of those turbines in the water this year," Dawson said.

The turbine, which is 16-metres in diameter and weighs 1,000 tonnes, was originally scheduled for deployment last year, but Dawson said it was delayed by weather.

"Safety is always our top priority and we'll install them when we have the best confidence that we can do it safely and successfully," she said.

Cape Sharp Tidal -- which is a partnership of OpenHydro and Emera -- has not revealed the total cost of the project, but Dawson said the company has committed to spend 70 per cent of the overall cost in Nova Scotia.

She said once connected to the power grid, the turbines will provide enough electricity for about 1,000 homes.

The new turbines are a bigger and more robust version of a turbine tested by OpenHydro and Nova Scotia Power in 2009 that was heavily damaged by the Bay of Fundy's powerful currents.

Meanwhile, Black Rock Tidal Power Inc., has announced that its tidal power platform will also be built by Aecon and installed at the same test site near Parrsboro in 2017.

Their TRITON S40 uses 40 smaller turbines, each about four metres in diameter, and is expected to generate 2.5 megawatts.

"Because the TRITON can be easily brought to the surface it allows for easy maintenance access. The use of multiple small turbines together with TRITON's maintenance approach reduces both capital and maintenance costs," said Nils Hirsch, general manager of Black Rock Tidal Power.

He said a lot has been learned from the failed project in 2009, and his company's unique design has been successful under simulation tests.

"The platform as it is designed will survive the forces in the Bay of Fundy. It is considering the current speed, the wave impact, as well as turbulence and wind load," he said.

A total of five companies from around the world have been awarded a demonstration site at the FORCE test facility.

It is considered Canada's leading research centre for tidal energy.

By Kevin Bissett in Fredericton