Weekly Intelligence Brief

Nova Scotia Power praises government regulations

8 December 2009

Nova Scotia Power, which recently deployed the first commercial scale in-stream tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy, has praised government regulations for the urge to develop renewable power projects.

According to Rob Bennett, president and chief executive officer of Nova Scotia Power, in Nova Scotia and in many of the jurisdictions the utility operates in, growth is coming because of regulations that are coming through government guidance. According to a report filed by The New Brunswick Business Journal, he made this comment at Scotia Capital Inc.’s annual Bioenergy Day Conference in Toronto.

Last month, OpenHydro successfully deployed the first commercial scale in-stream tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, on behalf of Nova Scotia Power. The 1MW rated commercial scale turbine reached the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) deployment site, in the Minas Passage.

As part of a test project that will help to determine the feasibility of harnessing tidal energy on a commercial scale, Nova Scotia Power has deployed a 10-metre, 1MW in-stream tidal turbine.

In 2010, two additional turbines will be deployed in the Bay of Fundy by Clean Current from British Columbia and Minas Basin Pulp and Power of Hants East. These companies, along with Nova Scotia Power, are all members of the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) which is in the process of constructing a station that will allow the turbines to be connected to the electrical grid. The station will also include a research laboratory to examine the data collected from the test turbines in the hope of determining how best to harness energy from the Bay of Fundy in the future.

Read more:

Nova Scotia Power: http://social.tidaltoday.com/search/node/Nova+Scotia+Power

OpenHydro: http://social.tidaltoday.com/search/node/OpenHydro