Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) announces it has satisfied the requirements set out by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans to commence operation of tidal turbines on the PLAT-I platform installed in Grand Passage, Nova Scotia, Canada.
On Feb. 23, the system generated its first power, becoming the only operational in-stream tidal energy system currently installed in Nova Scotia, turbine developer Schottel Hydro said in a press release.
The platform, equipped with instream turbines, was developed and tested in Scotland with support provided by Scottish Enterprise. It was relocated to Nova Scotia and installed at Grand Passage in September 2018. It then underwent a period of commissioning and testing of the environmental monitoring equipment.
“We are very proud to have achieved this important milestone, as part of our staged testing and demonstration program in Nova Scotia,” said Jason Hayman, managing director of SME. “We have been working diligently with a wide range of stakeholders, including research organizations, academia and regulators to develop effective methods of monitoring the environmental interactions of this new form of electricity generation, and will continue to do so as we advance our technology. Our objective is to provide coastal and island communities with a robust, reliable and environmentally benign renewable energy solution.’’
SME of Scotland is a turnkey supplier of integrated tidal energy generation systems. The company merged with the tidal energy business of Schottel in 2018. SME commercializes the tidal turbine technology developed by Schottel, in conjunction with its platform and anchoring solutions. Schottel Hydro is based in Germany.
