Electrical utility has "a lot riding on this’
North America’s rush to renewables has forced the region’s largest energy conglomerate to spend hundreds of millions of dollars this year going cleaner and greener.
Emera Inc. and its subsidiary, Nova Scotia Power, are pinning their hopes on harnessing the powerful tides of the Bay of Fundy to generate electricity.
"We’ve got a lot riding on this," said Emera CEO Chris Huskilson in a recent interview at his downtown Halifax office.
Cherubini Metal Works of Dartmouth made the base for the underwater turbine being tested in the Bay of Fundy by Nova Scotia Power and its partner Open Hydro.(Peter Parsons / Herald Staff)
"I think there is great potential both for us producing our own power from this source and Nova Scotians to get more involved in the technology."
Last November, Nova Scotia Power and its Irish partner, OpenHydro of Dublin, launched a commercial-scale underwater turbine in the Bay of Fundy.
"We’ve actually done some remote monitoring of the unit and we do know it is turning. We know it is still down there and still sitting on its legs," he said.
The data collected from the one-megawatt turbine is showing it is working though it is not connected to the grid, he said.
"We’ve got the machine in the water and it’s an exciting time because were gathering the data we need to understand whether this business can turn into something," said Huskilson.
Over the next year, Nova Scotia Power will determine whether it "will do a lot more" in this area.
"It’s an exciting time for the business."
Emera has invested US$16 million for an 8.2 per cent stake in OpenHydro in early 2008. The test turbine cost $10 million, with Nova Scotia Power investing the lion’s share and $4.6 million coming from Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a non-profit green energy foundation.
Huskilson says the next step for Nova Scotia Power is testing an array of three tidal turbines and connecting them to an underwater power cable expected to be installed in 2011.
"We have to decide when it’s right for us to put the array in. That’s the next thing we need to do, is test an array," he said.
"The next thing to be tested is both the interaction with the power line and also the interaction with each other."
He said testing an array of turbines connected to a power grid has yet to be done anywhere.
Exploring the opportunities of tidal energy is part of Emera’s strategy to grow its renewable portfolio.
Renewables, including wind, hydro and tidal, account for about 25 per cent of the energy giant’s portfolio, and the company expects that to grow to 40 per cent by 2020, he said.
The utility and Emera will spend $200 million this year to have ownership stakes in three of the six wind power projects for which Nova Scotia Power signed power purchase agreements in 2008.
The provincial government ordered Nova Scotia Power to have five per cent of its total electricity purchases generated by independent power producers from renewable energy sources by the end of 2011.
Last week, the utility applied to regulators for approval to spend $28 million to kick-start a stalled wind power project in Point Tupper. Under the agreement, Renewable Energy Services Ltd. of Lower Sackville will build and operate the wind farm in Richmond County and Nova Scotia Power will have a 49 per cent interest.
Last month, the unregulated holding company bought a 100 per cent stake in another financially troubled wind farm. Troubled SkyPower Inc. of Toronto had partnered with Scotian WindFields on the project in Digby.
Last year, Nova Scotia Power purchased the $120-million Nuttby Mountain project in Colchester County from EarthFirst Canada Inc. of Calgary. The project had stalled due to the global credit crisis.
"We continue to believe that diversity of generation is an important aspect. You can’t have only one source of generation," Huskilson said.
Now that wind farms have been up and running for at least five years in Nova Scotia, the risk is more reasonable, he said.
Emera’s strategy appears to be working, with a five-year growth rate of nine per cent and a share price that increased 12.9 per cent in 2009, he said.
On the Toronto stock market Friday afternoon, Emera shares rose 10 cents to $23.85.
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