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The combined might of waves and tides off Canada's coasts could offer a clean alternative to fossil fuels.
Twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, oceans churn against coastlines around the world, powered by surface waves and tides.
Key findings
According to the Inventory of Canada’s Marine Renewable Energy Resources:
- The total wave energy potential at depths of 1 kilometre off Canada's Atlantic coast is almost 150,000 megawatts (MW) — more than double Canada’s current electricity demand — while the total potential off our Pacific coast averages about 37,000 MW, or more than 55 percent of our current electricity demand.
- The potential tidal power at 190 sites on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts collectively exceeds an annual average of 42,000 MW, or roughly two-thirds of Canada’s current electricity demand. The most promising areas for harnessing tidal power include the Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, Georgia Strait and Johnstone Strait in British Columbia, and Hudson’s Strait and Ungava Bay.
- Due to environmental, technological, climate and economic factors, only a fraction of the available wave and tidal resources can be extracted and converted into useful power.
A symphony for the senses, the seawater-seacoast interface also represents a vast and largely untapped source of clean energy. Fuelled by growing concerns about global warming, pollution and the rising cost of fossil fuels, more and more countries are exploring the potential of harvesting waves and tides to generate electricity.
With over 200,000 kilometres of coastline — more than half the world’s total — Canada has one of the richest renewable marine energy resources in the world. In 2006, NRC researcher Dr. Andrew Cornett and his team produced the first comprehensive, Canada-wide inventory of these resources — a study that investigated wave and tidal resources at promising locations in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.
The inventory estimated that the total potential wave energy in our Atlantic and Pacific waters averages more than 2.5 times Canada’s total electricity consumption, while the total potential tidal energy at 190 sites off the north, east and west coasts averages about two-thirds of our total electricity consumption. While noting that “only a fraction” of available wave and tidal power can be harvested for electricity, the report stressed that “Canadian resources are considered sufficient to justify further research into their development as an important source of renewable green energy for the future.”
Since the inventory’s release, Dr. Cornett and his colleagues have conducted detailed resource assessments at locations where marine energy developments will likely take place including the Bay of Fundy, the west coast of Vancouver Island, the St. Lawrence and other rivers in Quebec. Building on these results, companies have proposed to install underwater turbines in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall and Montréal. And in 2008, the Government of Nova Scotia announced plans for “North America’s first in-stream tidal technology centre” in the Bay of Fundy. This project will ultimately result in the installation of three large tidal turbines on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Dr. Andrew Cornett of the NRC Canadian Hydraulics Centre (NRC-CHC) in Ottawa used a 3D hydrodynamic model to assess tidal energy resources in the Bay of Fundy.
“I think our work has opened people’s eyes to the opportunities to harvest energy from the ocean in Canada.”
Dr. Andrew Cornett, NRC-CHC
“We have a world-class resource attracting world-class technology,” said Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter earlier this year. “Tidal power from the Bay of Fundy is one of Nova Scotia's most promising sources of clean, renewable
energy.” 
Video: Tank test
Testing the technology
The NRC Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) in St. John’s provides a program to evaluate the performance of devices for capturing and converting marine energy into electricity. “Our main focus is to assist marine energy developers,” says researcher Fraser Winsor. “We offer a variety of tools and services such as tank testing, numerical modelling techniques and field trials.” So far, his team has helped three companies: Seawood Designs and Wave Energy Technologies, which are developing wave harvesting devices; and Mavi Innovations, which focuses on tidal power.
“We use a variety of criteria to evaluate marine energy devices,” says Winsor. In the case of Seawood Designs, which is developing a wave pump attached to a pontoon, “we measured the load, motion, water pressure and flow rate to quantify the potential power it can deliver.”
The team continuously strives to improve its testing services. For example, they are assessing whether typical scaling laws apply when results from a model are extrapolated to a full-scale working device. They are also examining how individual wave energy devices behave as part of an array of devices. “Ocean energy testing is a good example of how NRC can help technology developers,” says Winsor.
