Annual Report 2018
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Country Reports

CANADA

Ghanashyam Ranjitkar (CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada) Sue Molloy (Glas Ocean Engineering)
2018 was an exciting year for Ocean Energy development in Canada and a highlight was the hosting of the G7 Environment and Energy Ministers meeting in Nova Scotia to discuss the Blue Economy. This meeting gave Canada a chance to feature the efforts being made across Canada in Ocean Renewable Energy. Marine Renewables Canada (MRC), the Fundy Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) and most of the tidal power developers building projects in Canada had the opportunity to address the ministers and participate in discussions. 
 
In Canada, provincial governments have exclusive jurisdiction over the development and management of sites and facilities for the generation of electrical power within the territory of their respective provinces. Nationally, through the departments of Natural Resources (NRCan), Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and Environment (EC), Canada supports and provides funding for projects as well as regulates the environmental impact. In 2018 the federal government proposed Bill C-69, which will expand federal authority in offshore projects, this is currently in review. The provinces build legislation, assess resources, collect royalties and assign incentives.
 
In the ocean energy sector in Canada regional interest is focused on:
  • British Columbia (BC) – Wave, tidal, river hydrokinetic and offshore wind;
  • Manitoba (MB) – River hydrokinetic;
  • Ontario (ON) – River hydrokinetic;
  • Quebec (QC) – River hydrokinetic;
  • Nova Scotia (NS) – Tidal and offshore wind and;
  • Newfoundland (NL)– Wave, offshore wind;
 
In 2018 there were significant milestones achieved and also some changes to the way Ocean Energy will be pursued in Canada. In tidal power, Cape Sharp Tidal successfully deployed in the Minas Passage Nova Scotia FORCE site for the third time and although the company was dissolved very soon after, the turbine was successfully connected and produced tidal power for the second time on the Nova Scotia grid. Following this, indications are that in the Bay of Fundy, floating systems could be the tidal power platforms of choice for the foreseeable future. 
 
24086-smec1.pngBlack Rock Tidal Power, renamed as Sustainable Marine Energy Canada (SMEC) as of January 2019, successfully deployed the floating PLAT-I system from Sustainable Marine Energy (UK) in Grand Passage, Bay of Fundy, NS. This is a lower energy site than Minas Passage in the Bay of Fundy and the platform was deployed without turbines so that SMEC can complete a series of environmental monitoring and research baseline tasks before generating power. Halagonia Tidal Energy Ltd. (HTEL), a Canadian subsidiary of DP Energy is also developing a floating system and Big Moon Power has a floating system. The Cape Sharp Tidal berth at FORCE was sold at the end of 2018 and the new technology developer and project developer will be announced in early 2019.
 
In 2018 the Canadian and provincial governments have invested in excess of $34M directly in ocean energy projects and in excess of $700M in external programs for which ocean energy projects are eligible. It is anticipated that there will be investments of $20M plus directly in ocean energy projects in 2019. 
 
36377-fast.pngCanada saw extensive work completed in environmental monitoring and resource assessment in 2018. This work was performed primarily in NS and  BC. In NS, FORCE and some of the developers completed a large number of projects. In BC, the West Coast Wave Initiative (WCWI) of the University of Victoria (UVic) deployed 5 wave monitoring buoys and one Ocean Sentinel (in collaboration with Danish company Orsted).
 
Marine Renewables Canada, with partners at the Government of Canada have published a ‘State of the Sector Report’ highlighting the opportunities, challenges and path forward to capturing opportunities in the ocean energy in Canada and globally.