UK tidal turbine targets Bay of Fundy

Marine Current Turbines Ltd, the Bristol based tidal energy company, has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada’s Minas Basin Pulp and Power Company (MBPP) to demonstrate and develop tidal power technology and facilities in the Bay of Fundy. MBPP is a sustainable energy and resources company.

Working in partnership with MBPP, MCT will participate in the tidal power demonstration centre established by the Province of Nova Scotia. MBPP and MCT intend to deploy a 1.5MW tidal generator when the in-stream tidal energy centre enters full operation and is connected to the Nova Scotia grid.

The Bay of Fundy has a tidal range exceeding 15m and the tide flows through its Minas Passage at 14km/hr.

Another Nova Scotia company which has worked with MCT is Marine Tidal Energy Corporation (MTEC). After carefully evaluating the development of various in-stream tidal turbines throughout the world, MTEC concluded that MCT had the best technology and was significantly further along the development curve than other companies. MCT’s latest 1.2 MW SeaGen, the world’s first utility sized, grid connected turbine, was installed in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland on 20 May 2008.

Ron Scott, president of MTEC, has acknowledged that partnerships are forming between tidal developers and large energy companies like ScottishPower, EDF Energy and Emera.

In a column contributed to thechronicleherald.ca, he has highlighted that six tidal energy development companies have plans to install commercial tidal farms in the next two to three years. Governments, particularly in the UK, are providing incentives to help developers get to the other side of high start-up costs.

‘We are drawing closer to the time when we will be generating energy from our oceans in a major way, energy that does not produce carbon dioxide, that is available virtually forever, and at a cost that is predicted eventually to be similar to the cost of wind energy’, he wrote.

The Atlantic region is playing a significant role on the international tidal energy stage. ‘If all goes well with the demonstrations in the Bay of Fundy, commercial in-stream turbine installations are the next major step, he continued. ‘If we act boldly, cooperatively and quickly, Atlantic Canada can leverage the good start we have made and become the centre of an international renewable ocean energy industry.’