Scots firm Nova Innovation to develop tidal array in Canada
A SCOTTISH energy firm has been granted a licence to deploy a tidal array in Canada.
Edinburgh-based Nova Innovation said the move would lead to 15 new turbines being installed in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, by 2023.
The project will provide enough electricity to power 600 homes.
In 2016, Nova said its offshore tidal array at Bluemull Sound off Shetland had become the first in the world to deliver electricity to the grid.
Some components for the array in Canada will be made in Edinburgh, although engineering work on the seabed platform and turbine rotors will be carried out in Canada.
Nova Innovation chief executive Simon Forrest said: “In the face of the climate emergency, we are on a mission to transform the power of the oceans across the world into clean, predicable energy.
“At five times the size of our array in Shetland, which is the first of its kind in the world, this project is a massive step forward for Nova Innovation and the sector – propelling Nova Scotia to a leading position in tidal energy.”
“We are delighted to have won the contract. It is testimony to the quality of our team in Canada; the relationships we have built with communities, supply chain and government; and the hard work put in by all, that this project will now become a reality.
Mr Forrest added: “Canada, particularly Nova Scotia, is blessed with an abundant tidal resource and it is inspiring to see the political drive, locally and nationally, to make Nova Scotia the global leader in the sector.
“The momentum building behind tidal energy is demonstrated by the astonishing response to Nova Innovation’s ongoing crowdfunding campaign, which has so far seen more than 1,000 people invest to join our mission.”
The Nova Scotian government is putting its weight behind tidal power, pledging to pay Nova Innovation 50 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity from the 15 new turbines, recognising the costs of developing a groundbreaking new energy technology.
A similar story unfolded when wind power was in its infancy in the 1980s and 90s. The UK and US were early pioneers of wind turbine technology, but it was countries like Denmark which ultimately prospered to the tune of many billions of dollars through significant governmental backing at the early commercial stage. Canada looks set to emulate
Denmark in the tidal sector.