The Bruce Report

Last week, the New Brunswick government announced that it will invest $30,000 in an international study on tidal power. Its partners include Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Washington, the City of San Francisco, and the U.S. Department of Energy. In all, these jurisdictions are expected to spend upwards of $350,000 (U.S.) to ascertain, with some degree of certainty, if cheap energy can be extracted from the ebb and flow of the planet’s oceans.

Great, but haven’t we heard this before? About 30 years ago, when the last big oil crisis occurred, tidal power was all the rage. Its potential, we were assured by politicians at the time, was limitless. Combined with wind, solar, hydro and nuclear, it promised independence from, and leverage against, OPEC’s fossil fuel barons.

What’s changed? Not much. The barrel price of oil on the spot market is now $51 (comparable to annually adjusted levels endured in the early 1970s). The same motley crew of extortionists control the supply, and therefore the price, in the face of rising demand. And the politician’s case for diversifying the power grid (on the basis of urgent need, not long-term economic development) is being argued as enthusiastically now as it was three decades ago.

The word “short-sighted” comes to mind. What’s stopped us in Atlantic Canada from developing innovative, new energy technologies has been the very thing that has pushed us, from time to time, to embrace the idea of them: the price of oil. When it’s high, we scramble for the great notion; when it’s low or stable, we settle back into our warm cocoons and tell ourselves that our lights will always burn brightly.

But while we, with our endless tidal resources, have dithered, others have marched forward. One of the technologies being scrutinized by the international consortium is the brainchild of Marine Current Turbines Ltd., based in Bristol, England. And, by all accounts, it’s a beauty.

According to Times & Transcript staffer Mary Moszynski, who reported on the project earlier this week, the company employs a submersible version of wind turbines: “Because the turbines use the flow of tidal currents instead of the rise and fall of the tides, no dam or barrage is needed (hence, no threat to marine life). . .The company boasts it launched the world’s first offshore tidal energy turbine in 2003, off the Devon coast of  England. At a cost of $7 million, the turbine is capable of producing 300 kilowatts of electricity. Although it is just an experimental test bed, the company plans to install a one-megawatt commercial prototype turbine next year.”

Nothing is more important to a regional economy than energy independence. The effort to secure it breeds commercial opportunities both at home and abroad (check out Iceland if you want proof). In fact, success in this sector generates a multiplier effect: a lower cost of business, a higher standard of life, more money in the pockets of managers and workers, more disposable income to pay for arts and entertainment. Better restaurants, bigger shows, wider audiences, happier tourists.

Tidal power is an idea whose time came long ago. Are we now ready to embrace it? If we are, it won’t be a quick fix. Says Tom Adams, Executive Director of Energy Probe: “New Brunswick is in an energy crisis. You are in a lot of trouble and you’ve got to find solutions. . .You need to look at some reliable options where the cost and production are known with some degree of certainty.”

There it is again — that phrase, “some degree of certainty”. I would trade all my hours of certainty for one moment of imagination. And that’s exactly what it will take to replace oil with water in New Brunswick’s energy grid.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.