Thanks to an innovative partnership between Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, EnCana Corporation, Sustainable Development Technology Canada and Clean Current Power Systems Incorporated, Canada’s first free-stream tidal power project has been built at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, offshore Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
The tidal power project enables the world famous marine park to tap into surrounding ocean currents and convert tidal energy to electric power for its needs. In order to determine the optimum site for the turbine in terms of depth and tidal current, ASL Environmental Sciences was contracted by Triton Consultants of Vancouver to collect ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) transect data to verify Triton’s numerical model and to narrow down the potential installation sites. ASL then collected current and wave data over the course of a lunar month at one, and 15 days later, at another of the selected sites. The system has been operational since early 2006.
www.racerocks.com/racerock/energy/tidalenergy/tidalenergy.htm
