The City of Campbell River and Rivercorp, its economic development corporation, recently posted this news release regarding SRM Projects tidal energy investigative activities at south Discovery Passage and Seymour Narrows.
We are excited to embark on these tidal energy assessment activities and work with the City of Campbell River, Rivercorp, local First Nations, the Strathcona Regional District, Quadra Island residents and other stakeholders as we move cautiously forward. Tidal power is an emerging source of renewable energy and we intend to take steps over the next five years to better characterize the tidal energy resource and work with user groups to identify potential conflicts. This strategy will ensure we have time to understand key issues of importance to the environment and stakeholders as well as allow the technology to be further optimized before an application for long term land tenure and detailed design of tidal energy facilities is initiated.
Our 2014 investigative program is being finalized now and will be posted and presented at community forums after First Nations consultations are completed and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations has been advised. 2014 activities proposed for the investigative areas include field surveys to observe tidal action at normal and extreme tides and commercial, recreational and cultural/heritage use assessments.
Building on the City of Campbell River’s earlier investigative work evaluating the potential for generating power from a small tidal energy converter located off the fishing pier, we also plan to update the existing area hydrodynamic model in 2014 with new bathymetry and further validate it with additional current measurements to determine which specific areas are most likely suitable for tidal energy extraction.
Other investigative work, including environmental assessments and more detailed current measurements at high potential areas, will be completed between 2015 and 2018. For more on these potential tidal energy projects, see our Projects/Development page.