HALIFAX, N.S. - A professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax has been awarded $65,000 to lead a two-year study looking at how tidal power initiatives may affect sedimentation patterns in the Bay of Fundy.
Danika vanProosdij and her team will use funding from Offshore Energy Environmental Research to examine how the dynamics of sedimentation change when energy is extracted from the tides by special turbines.
The research has become increasingly important following Nova Scotia Power's installation of an open hydro turbine at a demonstration facility in Minas Passage.
More are expected to be installed sometime this year.
No significant monitoring programs or models have been developed globally for evaluating long-term impacts at tidal energy sites.
VanProosdij, a coastal geomorphologist, specializes in the ecosystems of intertidal zones, salt marshes and muddy coastal dynamics.
