Tuesday 8 November 2016

Cape Sharp Tidal safely deployed the first OpenHydro Open-Centre turbine at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) near Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. The operation—our first attempt—was completed in one tidal cycle, while holding station in the Crown Lease Area.

Atlantic Towing’s Kingfisher towed the Scotia Tide deployment barge from West Bay to the site early this morning. Once in position over our berth, the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine was lowered to the sea floor in a 4-hour operation on an ebb tide.

Several expert partners contributed to this precision work, including Nova Scotia companies Atlantic Towing (Dartmouth), Seaforth (Dartmouth), Mike Huntley (Kentville) and RMI (Dartmouth). More than 25 local crews participated.

During the remainder of this week’s deployment window, our crews will be focused on completing the grid-connection to FORCE’s subsea cable, and delivering Nova Scotia’s first in-stream tidal energy to the Provincial power grid. In the next few days, we’ll connect the turbine cable tail and our Y-shaped connector cable by lifting each from the sea floor and joining them on the deck of Atlantic Towing’s Beaver Barge.

We owe thanks to many who contributed to the success of turbine deployment: to FORCE for on-shore coordination and hosting; to local fishermen who lent their knowledge and understanding of the Minas Passage; and to many local Parrsboro businesses for extending their operating hours to support our people during our time in town.