Cable installation at FORCE site (Photo courtesy Cape Sharp Tidal)

Cape Sharp Tidal says it has completed significant steps in preparation for the deployment of two turbines in the Minas Passage near Parrsboro.

The company adds that with help from its marine operations partner Atlantic Towing Ltd., it has installed 300 metres of power and fibre-optic data cable at the FORCE tidal test site. Its news release adds the cable was deployed during a single tidal cycle from a specially designed barge.

Work teams also lifted the 16 megawatt cable installed by FORCE more than a year ago and linked it to Cape Sharp’s interconnection hub. The cables were then placed on the sea floor at the Cape Sharp tidal berth near Black Rock. That means that when Cape Sharp turbines start generating electricity, the power can be fed directly onto Nova Scotia’s grid.

Scotia Tide launch

Scotia Tide on its maiden test voyage last weekend (Photo courtesy Cape Sharp Tidal)

Cape Sharp Tidal has also announced that its barge, Scotia Tide, was tested last weekend in Pictou Harbour. The 650-tonne, 64-metre barge was built by Aecon Group Inc. of Pictou.

The barge is equipped with three heavy-lift winches designed to lower and raise turbines to and from the sea floor.

Cape Sharp Tidal says it plans to tow its 2MW, 1,000 tonne turbines from Pictou to the FORCE test site sometime next spring. The company is a partnership between the French-owned OpenHydro and Emera Inc., parent of Nova Scotia Power.

Its news release quotes James Ives, OpenHydro’s chief executive.

“The barge launch and the cable installation are both Nova Scotia-made solutions that get us one step closer to a successful tidal array in this first demonstration phase of the Cape Sharp Tidal project,” Ives said.