Saturday, March 10, 2007

More tidal power for Bay of Fundy

More news on the tidal power front this week: A U.S. company plans to generate electricity with new technology by tapping the tides of Passamaquoddy Bay, an inlet of the Bay of Fundy surrounded by New Brunswick and Maine.

Ocean Renewable Power is zeroing in on the waters off Deer Island and are suggesting that the company's first tidal power generators could be operating in the bay as early as 2009. They are creating a floating structure that contains four turbine generators.

Ocean Renewable Power's initiative is just one of the recent projects aimed at harnessing the tidal powers in the Bay of Fundy, considered one of the best sites in the world for such attempts.

In mid-February, Nova Scotia Power announced that it was teaming up with an Irish company to try to build one of the world's largest single underwater turbines in the six-kilometre-wide Minas Passage by late 2009.

See my previous posts about in-stream tidal power.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How I have enjoyed these glimpses into life along the coast of the Bay of Fundy.
I have always wanted to visit there, and now I will, briefly, when I sail in aboard a cruise ship in September.
I hope to see some whales, some high tides-low tides and some scenic spots along the shore as well as the neat town of St. John.
Thank you again for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant!...

Daniel Costello said...

Wonderful news regarding the power projects slated for the Minas Passage. I hope you have encouraged political support for regional self-sufficency studies among the Coastal Communities Network. It would be satisfying to see their regional resources supplanting coalfired generating stations from coast to coast. http://www.coastalcommunities.ns.ca/