Irish company chosen for Fundy tidal pilot

Just in the news this weekend:

Nova Scotia Power has picked an Irish firm to provide its first in-stream tidal turbine for an experiment in the Bay of Fundy. OpenHydro of Dublin was selected for the project, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2009.

"By selecting OpenHydro, Nova Scotia Power has chosen a company that has been most successful in demonstrating their design in ever increasing sizes. They offer a simple and environmentally friendly unit, which we believe will allow our demonstration project to be successful. When completed, this will be the largest in-stream tidal generating unit integrated into an electricity grid in the world," said James Taylor, NSP’s general manager of environmental planning and monitoring.

Last fall, NSP submitted an application for funding for the tidal power demonstration project to Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The company is awaiting further notification on funding and an environmental assessment of the project.

Looks like a tidal energy project will be underway in the Bay of Fundy sooner rather than later!