One of the tidal turbines to be installed in the Bay of Fundy by Cape Sharp Tidal will be moved to Halifax for final preparations in the coming days, while the company continues its outreach and consultation activities about the project.
Cape Sharp Tidal, a joint venture between Emera and OpenHydro, will move the first turbine to Halifax to ballast its steel subsea base with concrete, while making more space at the Pictou Shipyard to continue work on the second turbine for the project, the company informed.
Transit time from Pictou to Halifax will last about three to four days. Cape Sharp Tidal, however, said the company is moving the turbine, but not moving ahead with the deployment.
“Outreach and consultation about our demonstration project will be ongoing while the ballasting work is taking place—and for a period of time after that as well. We are moving the turbine to Halifax, but not moving ahead with deployment at this time,” Sarah Dawson , spokeswoman for Cape Sharp Tidal said.
The exact deployment date of the first turbine remains unknown, and according to Cape Sharp Tidal, it will communicate its plans for deployment before transit to the FORCE site begins.
Cape Sharp Tidal plans to install two 2 MW OpenHydro tidal turbines to form an array.
Each turbine is 16 m in diameter and 20 m in height, with the weight of 1,000 tonnes, and once installed they’re expected to power 1,000 homes.
To remind, Cape Sharp Tidal postponed its original plans to install the first tidal turbine at the end of July to conduct more consultations with the local fishermen association that complained about the potential impacts of the turbines on the fish and Bay of Fundy’s ecosystem.
Following the review by Nova Scotia Department of Environment, the proposed monitoring program for the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) and Cape Sharp Tidal has been approved , allowing Cape Sharp Tidal to proceed with the installation of the turbines.
“During this ongoing period of pause, an ideal outcome is that we have sat down for meaningful dialogue with those who previously felt they weren’t heard. We always learn from these engagements. Like everyone who has an interest in the Bay of Fundy, we believe that a number of industries and interests can co-exist responsibly,” Dawson added.