A turbine that will test the potential of tidal power was installed in the Bay of Fundy off the Nova Scotia coast on Thursday afternoon.

It was placed in the Minas Passage, about 10 kilometres west of Parrsboro, N.S.

"Today is a great day in the history of Nova Scotia," Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks said in a statement.

"Tidal energy offers Nova Scotians many opportunities - new jobs, cleaner energy and the use of resources we have in our own backyard. That's the dream, and the tidal project team have dedicated themselves to help make it a reality."

The provincial government has contributed $9 million to the tidal power project.

The 400-tonne device was installed on the seabed by Nova Scotia Power and its partner, OpenHydro.

It took about 10 minutes to lower the six-storey-high device, which has a base built by Cherubini Metal Works in Dartmouth.

"Working with OpenHydro, we are proud to be the first to deploy and test a commercial-scale tidal turbine in the Bay of Fundy and look forward to the learnings ahead," said Rob Bennett, president and CEO of Nova Scotia Power.

The province has set a target of producing 25 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2015.

Research suggests that tidal power in the Minas Passage could create up to 300 megawatts, enough to power 100,000 homes. If Thursday's turbine survives the winter storms, it has the potential to generate electricity for up to 500 homes once it's connected to the power grid.

Minas Basin Pulp and Power and B.C.-based Clean Current have also been chosen to test turbines in the Bay of Fundy. They are aiming to deploy their devices next year.

With files from The Canadian Press

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/11/12/ns-fundy-turbine.html

i remember this place from the guiness book. this has the largest tidal shifts on earth, right?

question- how do they prevent sea life from getting destroyed?

i remember this place from the guiness book. this has the largest tidal shifts on earth, right?
Right. We have the world's highest tides in the Bay of Fundy. I think the highest recorded tide is somewhere around 45 feet.

question- how do they prevent sea life from getting destroyed?
As I understand it, the turbines themselves turn very slowly but powerfully and are geared so that the power generating end is at high enough speeds to generate electrical power. I wondered if we would be ending up with a huge fish & seafood chowder.

I honestly thought this was going to be an article about some retrogressive Christians building a floating community.

*Needs more caffeine*.

My first reaction was what will this do to the bay? yeah, I had the seafood chowder image, and could it mess with those amazing tidal bores? And then I envisioned it mired in the red clay-like stuff that is the bottom of the bay.

I hope it just harnesses energy wihtout any of those disasters, but there is a price for everything...

The good part about this kind of technology is that it doesn't leave a pollution footprint. If it doesn't work or there are mitigating circumstances, it can be easily removed with little or nothing left behind. The same goes for geothermal power.

fundy is a significantly unique natural phenomenon. I hope they find a way to do this without destroying it. There are no others.