March 4, 2014 – Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom announced they will work together to advance tidal research to help the future development of the industry. Nova Scotia energy minister Andrew Younger, OERA executive director and the British deputy high commissioner to Canada, Corin Robertson (on behalf of the Technology Strategy Board) announced the agreement.

“Collaborating on tidal development will help us save money and increase our research capacity,” said Younger. “It will also create opportunities for businesses and researchers in both Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom.”

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the province, the Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA) of Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom’s Technology Strategy Board will encourage joint research to improve the technology required to generate electricity using high tides like those in the Bay of Fundy.

OERA and the Technology Strategy Board are contributing $250,000 each toward the initiative. They will oversee the majority of the work associated with the MoU, which outlines areas of collaboration, including environmental sensing research and instrumentation technologies to better understand high-flow tidal resources and their environment located within the Bay of Fundy, and Orkney, Scotland.

Joint request for proposals will be issued for research projects in both Canada and the U.K. to explore these and other tidal-related topics. The first will be issued later this year and will focus on environmental sensing research to better understand and validate devices for tidal development and their impact on the environment.