Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

The high-energy Bay of Fundy marine environment offers a vast relatively untapped source of renewable energy in the form of tides. In this context, energy conversion technologies that harvest this energy source are increasingly coming on-line, and dependable tools that can be used to inspect and interact with submerged infrastructure over sustained periods are increasingly needed. In the past few years, the Nova Scotia tidal community has augmented its marine operational capacity, but some unknowns and risks still exist, and the cost associated with such operations are high. A next step in reducing tidal energy levilized costs is therefore improving the performance of key installation tools, such as Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). In this context, Dynamic Systems Analysis (DSA) is an ocean engineering consultancy and software company providing progressive and accessible dynamic analysis expertise and software to enable risk reduction for operations in harsh marine environments. The company now seeks the engineering support of Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) to further enhance the hydrodynamic performance of their product, the ProteusDS software. This will support risk reduction in marine operations, thus increasing economic activities of the ProteuDS software users in high flow tidal environments such as the Bay of Fundy. The outcome will contribute to bringing the supply of tidal energy, a clean, predictable and renewable energy source, in line with other energy supply options in Canada.