CANADA IS UNIQUELY POSITIONED BECAUSE OF ITS LONG COASTLINE AND LARGE OCEAN ENERGY RESOURCE, ITS POWER AND OCEAN INDUSTRY EXPERTISE, AND ITS STRONG COMMITMENTS TO THE ENVIRONMENT.
Marine Renewable Energy in Canada
Canada has massive marine renewable energy resources and is making significant strides in realizing the potential of this resource. Supportive policies, shared infrastructure, and strategic research initiatives provide a solid foundation, making Canada a leader in the global marine renewable energy industry.
This section provides an overview and toolbox of the most current information, initiatives, players, and policies in Canada’s marine renewable energy sector.
For a comprehensive overview of Canada’s marine renewable energy sector, please read our State of the Sector report here.
Canada’s Marine Renewable Energy Resources
Test Sites and Shared Infrastructure
- FORCE is grid-connected with a 64 MW capacity, giving it the largest electrical capacity of any in-stream tidal site in the world.
- West Coast Wave Collaboration (WCWC) is co-funded by the Government of Canada, will use wind, wave and tidal data collected from a single fixed buoy, located offshore near Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island’s west coast.
- Canadian Hydrokinetic Turbine Testing Centre (CHTTC) is a partnership that joins manufacturers, turbine and fish researchers, and utilities to advance the development of river current technology in Canada. The goal of the CHTTC’s work is to deploy systems in rivers, develop the required expertise from water-to-wire, and contribute to harness a portion of the hydrokinetic river resource in Canada.
- College of the North Atlantic in Newfoundland is investigating options for an emerging wave energy test site.
- National Research Council’s Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) is a testing facility for model validations and tow tank work.
Supporting Policies and Marketplace
Canada’s Marine Renewable Energy Technology Roadmap
The Roadmap is a strategy to develop Canada’s marine renewable energy industry. It sets targets of 75 MW by 2016, 250 MW by 2020 and 2 GW by 2030 for installed in-stream tidal, river-current and wave energy generation.
Federal Government
- Marine Renewable Energy Enabling Measures Programme: To develop a set of federal policy options and recommendations for administering marine renewable energy in the federal offshore (work currently underway)
- ecoENERGY Innovation programme:$97 million (CAD) program launched in 2011 to support research, development and demonstration (RD&D) projects, including renewable technologies. Funded marine renewable energy projects under this program can be viewedhere.
British Columbia
- Land Use Operational Policy for Ocean Energy Projects: a Crown Land leasing policy for marine renewable energy projects.
- Standing Offer Programme: Offers a standard price that includes hydrokinetic in-stream technologies under the Clean Energy Act.
New Brunswick
- Allocation of Crown Lands for Tidal In-Stream Energy Conversion Projects: a Crown Land leasing policy for tidal energy projects.
Nova Scotia
- Marine Renewable Energy Strategy: Provides the conditions to support advancement of community-scale tidal projects, broaden strategic research and testing initiatives at FORCE and achieve a 300 MW target of commercial development by 2020.
- Feed-in Tariffs: Nova Scotia has some of the most attractive FITs in the world for tidal energy, targeted at both community-based projects and larger-scale development:
- Community-based FIT (COMFIT)– 65.2 cents/kWh
- Developmental Tidal FIT– various rates depending on development plan (see below)
- Marine Renewable Energy Legislation: The Marine Renewable Energy Act was established in 2015 and provides a predictable licensing and permitting process for marine renewable energy projects, identifies areas of priority for development, and ensures a sustainable and environmentally responsible approach to industry development.
- Permitting & approvals: The Nova Scotia Department of Energy has established a one-window committee of federal and provincial authorities for project advice and review.
Quebec
- Plan Nord includes a 200 MW target for renewable energy development that includes river and tidal energy.
Strategic Research
There are several universities and research organizations that have been working to advance the industry through strategic environmental and technical research focused on marine renewable energy.
For a list of all involved research organizations and links click here.
