Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) and Minas Tidal LP have agreed to co-develop their adjacent berths at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) in Canada and will use SME’s PLAT-I floating in-stream tidal energy technology to deliver up to 9 MW of capacity to the Nova Scotia grid.
The combined project is to be called the Pempa’q In-stream Tidal Energy Project and will be delivered in phases starting next year. For Phase 1, SME will deliver three PLAT-I platforms, each with a capacity of up to 420 kW, providing a combined capacity of 1.26 MW.
SME was recently awarded a license by the Nova Scotia Department of Energy and Mines, which allows energy generated by the three tidal energy systems to be sold via a power purchase agreement (PPA) to Nova Scotia Power.
Project financing for the first phase through equity and debt is being provided by Hamburg-based reconcept Group, an asset manager specializing in renewable energy investments. reconcept will establish a capital fund specifically for this purpose and also will support the financing of further phases of the project, to enable the delivery of the full 9 MW of capacity provided by the two berths.
“Tidal power has great potential, especially in the Bay of Fundy, and can help answer the challenges of the climate crisis,” said Karsten Reetz, managing partner of reconcept Group. “The major advantage of tidal power plants is their predictable and reliable output – this is very compelling from the investor’s point of view. We expect attractive returns for our German co-investors.”
Jason Hayman, managing director of SME, commented: “The FORCE site is renowned for its incredible tidal resource, but this also makes it a very challenging environment in which to deploy equipment. The lessons learned from our deployments in Scotland and Nova Scotia have helped us to prepare for this project. A supportive and stable market environment is required to enable the transition from R&D into an industry that can deliver commercially viable, abundant and predictable clean energy. We would like to thank the Government of Nova Scotia for remaining steadfast in their support of tidal energy.”
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