Feds Announce $6.3 Million for Tidal Power Project

One of the developers of tidal energy technology in the Minas Passage has received a $6.3 boost from the federal government.

OpenHydro Technology Canada, which plans to install a turbine at the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) site later this year, will receive $6,353,000 from Sustainable Development Technology Canada’s (SDTC) SD Tech Fund, MacKay announced.Also announced was $1.7 million for Green Power Labs Inc. in Dartmouth for the development of an advanced energy management system, to come from the same funding source.

The announcement was made at FORCE byJustice Minister and Attorney General Peter MacKay, and Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MP Scott Armstrong.Armstrong described the announcement as a huge opportunity for the community, one that he said has been a long time coming.

“Today we are here to talk about our future and will be a bright and prosperous future for this coast, this bay, and this community here in Parrsboro,” he said. “It really is a sign of the future for our entire nation as we move into more clean, green, natural, perpetual sources of energy which will power our homes, our vehicles, and hopefully our entire economy moving into the future.”

OpenHydro will deploy two 2MW turbines at the FORCE site, with each unit expected to produce 2MW of energy at a cost of 14.7 cents per kWh by 2020.It will be one of the first grid-connected tidal arrays in the world, producing enough energy to power over 1,000 homes locally, according to Jeremy Poste, country manager of OpenHydro Technology Canada.

Read the full story at www.cumberlandnewsnow.com.