The program will be a world-first: designing, building, and deploying a subsea monitoring platform capable of performing in the extreme, high flow conditions of the FORCE test area.
The platform will also be connected to the FORCE observation facility by submarine cable.
“When it comes to designing a successful tidal turbine for the Bay of Fundy, the more we know, the better,” said John Woods, FORCE Chair and VP for Energy Development for Minas Basin Pulp and Power. “This project will take our understanding to the next level.”
Speaking to an international gathering of representatives from industry, government, and research at the Ocean Renewable Energy Group conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Woods sdded: “We are installing a turbine in one of the fastest flowing tidal races in the world, 40 meters below the surface of the ocean. We need to know everything we can about these conditions: current speeds, direction of flow, water content, and how everything changes. This information is essential to success.”
The subsea monitoring program will allow:
“This new funding will support the development of an instrumentation platform that will be cable-connected and enable research and development activities,” said Scott Armstrong, MP for Cumberland --- Colchester -- Musquodoboit Valley, on behalf of the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources. “This will allow us to better understand the challenges of the resource at hand and, in so doing design technology to harness power from the world’s highest tides.”
Ocean Networks Canada Director Scott McLean said the program will demonstrate how world leading Canadian technologies and expertise in ocean observing systems can be applied to high flow environments.
“As a collaborative, cross-country initiative, the program will build Canadian expertise in this important emerging global market sector,” McLean said.
The announcement of the new program was made possible by $5 million from the Government of Canada, $3 million from Encana Corporation (a previous loan converted to a grant), $1 million from FORCE turbine developers, and $1 million of in-kind support from project partner Ocean Networks Canada.
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