Latest failure: firm bidding to produce power from Fundy tides files for bankruptcy

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HALIFAX — Another energy company has failed in its bid to develop tidal power from the Bay of Fundy, and fishing communities are concerned about tons of material and equipment left on the ocean floor.

The Nova Scotia government confirmed Thursday that Occurrent, formerly known as BigMoon Power, has filed for bankruptcy due to its inability to pay its bills.

Last year, UK-based Sustainable Marine Energy also failed, with losses estimated at more than $30 million. The collapse came after OpenHydro, a partner of Nova Scotia energy giant Emera Inc., left a 1,300-ton tidal turbine stuck at the bottom of the bay in 2018 after it went out of business.

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The province’s natural resources minister, Tory Rushton, said Thursday that the collapse of Ocarnet was disappointing, but said the string of costly failures had not damaged the province’s enthusiasm for tidal energy projects.

“We are willing partners here. If we can harness it and produce energy at affordable prices, we will certainly do so,” the minister said outside the legislature.

Occurrent’s top executives didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. Occurrent Power Canada Ltd. filed for bankruptcy last week, a court filing says. A creditors’ meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17.

A statement sent to creditors said the company had liabilities of $35.7 million and assets of about $14 million, creating a deficit of $21.7 million.

Other companies are hoping to take advantage of the world’s highest tides, Lindsay Bennett, executive director of the Fundy Ocean Energy Research Center — a nonprofit that runs a test facility and oversees tidal energy projects — said in an email.

“We know there are good reasons to pursue tidal energy; it’s a clean source of energy for our region,” she wrote. “But not every company will succeed in this area. It’s still a tough road.”

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There is one active dock holder at the test site, Bennett said. Eauclaire Tidal announced a partnership with Orbital Marine Power in December 2023.

Colin Sproul, president of the Bay of Fundy Coastal Fishermen’s Association, said he wanted to know when the moorings that were to be used for the Occurrent project — four submerged concrete-filled railcars — would be removed from the bay floor near the mouth of Walton Harbour in the Minas Basin.

“There are thousands of tons of trash sitting at the bottom of one of the most environmentally sensitive marine environments in the entire world and the province has done nothing to remove it,” he said in an interview Thursday.

The province says it is holding a $20,000 security deposit to clean up what it calls “temporary gravel pads” on underwater Crown land in Walton Channel. Rushton told reporters the province “will have to evaluate how we handle this.”

When Occurrent acquired the OpenHydro dock, the company’s license included posting a $4.5 million bond to cover the cost of restoring the equipment, the Department of Natural Resources said in an email.

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The abandoned Open Hydro turbine has been stuck in the Minas Pass for six years, despite repeated calls by fishermen to remove it, Sproul said.

Rushton said the massive turbine will be removed from the water.

“My intention is to get the turbine back on the surface,” he said. But he said it was unclear whether that task would fall to a future operator at the dock, or whether the county would hire a contractor to do the job.

Trust has eroded between fishermen and the tidal industry, Sproul said.

“Until they remove the rubbish that is already there and meet with us in a mutually agreed upon way in honest engagement, there will be no future for tidal energy in the Bay of Fundy,” he said.

Darren Porter, a fisherman who has allowed Accurate Power to use his land to set up its moorings, said he enjoyed working with the company, but now says he shares Sproul’s concerns about cleanup operations at Walton and Open Hydro.

“The biggest problem we have with all these companies is that they leave their stuff behind,” he said. “And now (the) Walton community is sitting there with four rail cars (in the harbor canal) and they’re full of cement … and it’s not easy to move.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

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