With total installed tidal power capacity of 511MW, South Korea is leading the way globally, according to the information provided by National Energy Board of Canada.
South Korea is followed by France with 246MW, and the United Kingdom with 139MW.
With total capacity of approximately 40MW, Canada ranks fourth in the world in installed tidal power capacity, followed by Belgium at 20MW, China at 12MW, and Sweden at almost 11MW.
National Energy Board of Canada has listed Ocean Energy Systems’ 2015 Annual Report as a source for its calculations, which also include installed and consented projects for wave power, tidal current, and tidal range sites – some of which are in the demonstration phase, others are short duration testing programs, and a few are prototypes entering the commercialization phase.
Canadian capacity is located solely in Nova Scotia and includes projects such as the 20MW Annapolis Tidal Power Plant and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) test site projects developed by Minas Tidal, Black Rock Tidal Power, Atlantis Operations Canada, and Cape Sharp Tidal Venture.
Nova Scotia’s Bay of Fundy has been identified by the California-based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) as one of the best potential sites in North America for tidal power generation, according to National Energy Board of Canada.
In the Minas Passage alone, EPRI estimated potential of nearly 300MW which is enough to power approximately 100,000 homes. Further research at Acadia University now suggests that there is more than 7,000MW of potential in the Minas Passage, 2,500MW of which has commercial potential without significant effects on peak tide height.