One of Cape Sharp Tidal's 16-metre diameter tidal power turbines being transported by barge in Halifax harbour.
A giant tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy has been lowered into position on the seabed at a test site near Parrsboro, N.S.A spokeswoman for Cape Sharp Tidal says the successful deployment of the 1,000-tonne turbine occurred on Monday morning during an ebb tide that lasted about four hours.
The company had planned to install it over the weekend, but had to put the installation off while preparation work was being done on the tail portion of the unit.
Spokeswoman Sarah Dawson says Cape Sharp Tidal – a joint venture between Emera Inc. and OpenHydro, a DCNS company – is installing one turbine this year.
She says that in the next few days the turbine will be connected to the power grid and is expected to begin generating electricity.
The partnership says it eventually plans to install a pair of two megawatt, in-stream tidal turbines at the testing site, which it says will be North America's first tidal array connected to an electrical grid.
The company is one of several that plan to test different turbine technologies in the Bay of Fundy, which has some of the world's most powerful tides.