Sustainable Marine connects first grid-compliant tidal power system in Canada

U.K.-based Sustainable Marine Energy Ltd. has connected Canada's first "grid-compliant" floating tidal energy system, the company said April 12.

Sustainable Marine connected its PLAT-I 6.4 tidal energy system to a purpose-built substation on the shores of the Grand Passage area off Nova Scotia's southern tip, after laying a 1-kilometer underwater cable in late January, according to a news release. In late 2020, the Canadian government granted the company C$28.5 million to build a floating tidal electricity generator off the shore of Nova Scotia.

The current deployment in the Grand Passage will also be used to test an environmental monitoring system, or EMS, located onboard PLAT-I 6.4, linking underwater cameras, hydrophones, echo-sounders and acoustic fish tag receivers. The EMS is expected to provide proof that the PLAT-I 6.4 system offers an "ultra-low environmental impact energy generation solution," the release said.

Canada's QPS Evaluation Services conducted the final inspections and issued the SPE 1000 Field Approval, allowing the tidal platform to supply power to the grid under a demonstration permit issued by the province of Nova Scotia. Project energization is expected in the coming weeks.

The PLAT-I 6.4 system will eventually be relocated to the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy demonstration site in Nova Scotia's Minas Passage to form part of the world's first floating tidal energy array in the Pempa'q Project.

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