Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 7312 |
| Work Detail | Cape Sharp Tidal Ventures is hoping to speed up approvals needed to keep their tidal power project on schedule. The company is expecting that a second, amended coastal trading application with the Canadian Transportation Agency will be fast-tracked for approval so it can meet its turbine deployment schedule in November. They are part of a consortium working with the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy on the project. Agents Mathers Logistics Ltd. filed an amended application Aug. 31 with the CTA to allow use of a second foreign-owned heavy-lift vessel, the BBC Emerald, after the first ship, the BBC Pearl, became unavailable. MarineTraffic.com shows the BBC Pearl tracking between Denmark and St. Petersburg, Russia while the BBC Emerald is in the North Pacific, heading toward Panama. The second application has less emphasis on the turbines’ deployment schedule, although the first application states this will occur during a neap tide — the least difference between high and low tide — Nov. 6-8. The company seeking approval of its amended application by Sept. 8. The original timeline for filing objections, set by the CTA, remains Sept. 2. The urgent need outlined in both applications is that the heavy-lift ship is required to lift Turbine 1, weighing 320 tonnes, in order to fix it because no Canadian ship nor the Port of Saint John can lift that weight. A new letter from Irish-owned OpenHydrochief operating officer Jacques Chatelet states that the company also wants the BBC Emerald to pick up Turbine 2 and its subsea base at the Aecon shipyard in Pictou by Sept. 21 and transport it to Saint John no later than Oct. 10, before facilitating the repair of Turbine 1 and finalizing the assembly of both devices. “The defective component inside the turbine has the potential to have a significant financial effect, and this vessel is immediately required to minimize additional expense,” stated Chatelet. “Additional research has been conducted on the possibility of using shore side cranes. However, the Port of Saint John does not have sufficient structural capacity to support such an operation,” the application said. The turbine was moved from Halifax to Saint John in mid-August, several weeks after the faulty component was identified. But a letter from Port Saint John confirms it can’t do the work. Neither application states why the repair work could not have been done in Halifax when the turbine was docked there for ballasting work for a month before it was moved to Saint John. “There’s a lot that goes into operational decisions with a complex project and technology like this (but proximity to the deployment site) . . . was a significant factor (in moving Turbine 1),” said Cape Sharp community liaison Sarah Dawson following the first application. The Coasting Trade Act reserves the carriage of goods and passengers between two points in Canada, and any other marine activity of a commercial nature, to Canadian-registered duty paid ships. Applications can take a maximum of 120 days, “although many cases are resolved sooner than this,” said CTA spokesperson Laurie Maybury. |
| Country | Canada , Northern America |
| Industry | Energy & Power |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1394589-tidal-power-project-seeks-speedy-approvals-to-stay-on-schedule |
