Canadian tidal energy company Sustainable Marine Energy has announced that it has voluntarily filed for bankruptcy. The company has appointed Deloitte Restructuring as the trustee overseeing the process.
Sustainable Marine Energy (SME) stated that it was unable to obtain the necessary authorizations or reach a viable agreement with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to move forward with its flagship demonstration project at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) tidal energy demonstration site in the Minas Passage.
CEO of Sustainable Marine Energy, Jason Hayman, explained that the decision to file for voluntary bankruptcy was prompted by a letter received from the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard. According to Hayman, the letter failed to instill confidence or certainty in the company's investors.
Sustainable Marine Energy made headlines last year when it became the world's first company to successfully harness the powerful tidal currents in the Bay of Fundy and supply electricity to Nova Scotia's grid using its innovative floating in-stream tidal platform (PLAT-I).
The project at Grand Passage received significant grant support from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and operated under a license granted by the Province of Nova Scotia. However, the authorization from DFO only permitted the operation of a single platform during daylight hours.
Sustainable Marine Energy had intended to leverage the knowledge gained from extensive testing and environmental monitoring conducted in Grand Passage to develop the Pempa'q Instream Tidal Energy Project at FORCE in the Minas Passage.
Over a five-year period starting in 2018, the company collaborated with fish tracking and subsea imaging experts to accumulate more than 5000 hours of video data. The findings aligned with previous studies conducted worldwide over the past two decades, demonstrating no adverse interactions or harm to marine life resulting from the deployment and operation of horizontal-axis in-stream tidal turbines.
In recent developments, Sustainable Marine Energy temporarily suspended its operations at Grand Passage while engaging in ongoing discussions with government officials and project investors.
Hayman expressed deep disappointment at the company's closure in Canada, highlighting the extensive environmental monitoring that showed no harm to marine life. Despite this, DFO declined to provide permission to proceed and did not establish a clear pathway or regulatory framework for the project's continuation.
Hayman hopes that officials within DFO will provide a transparent explanation to the dedicated team of 20 individuals in Nova Scotia who have lost their jobs, as well as to the many individuals in Canada, Germany, and the UK who have invested in the development of a clean and environmentally friendly method of generating electricity.
As part of the process to safeguard the site at Grand Passage and ensure no lasting environmental impact, the PLAT-I platforms have been placed in storage, and all equipment has been removed from the seabed.
