Nova Scotia Energy and Mines has issued a tidal energy demonstration permit to Sustainable Marine Energy Canada (SMEC) for a 700 kW project in the Bay of Fundy.
The permit is valid for a period of five years.
The project will begin with the connection of the PLAT-I 4.63 tidal energy platform to the Nova Scotia electrical grid.
The installation of the second PLAT-I device will also follow near the current location of PLAT-I 4.63.
The second SMEC device will be similar in size to PLAT-I 4.63 with 6 tidal turbines and a larger generating capacity.
Subsea cables will connect both devices to the electrical grid.
The proposed demonstration will be the first electrical grid-connection of the PLAT-I technology in the world.
The PLAT-I system consists of a single, slender hull with a perpendicular bridge located near the stern and supported by two outriggers.
The PLAT-I 4.63 unit has four 6.3m-diameter turbines, and a PLAT-I 6.40 unit comes with six 4.0m-diameter turbines.
The turbines are located along the bridge, mounted on retractable turbine support structures.
This feature allows rapid, cost-effective access to the turbines at site for routine inspection and maintenance.
In July 2019, Nova Scotia issued another licence to Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) Canada.
The 1.26-megawatt marine renewable energy licence allowed the company to further develop its project at FORCE.
Furthermore, SME and Minas Tidal have agreed to co-develop their adjacent berths at FORCE.
To that end, they will utilise SME’s PLAT-I floating in-stream tidal energy technology to deliver up to 9MW of tidal energy to the Nova Scotia grid.