Canada’s Sustainable Marine Energy Ltd. has been placed into voluntary bankruptcy and has appointed Deloitte Restructuring Inc. as trustee.

The tidal energy company was not able to secure the authorizations it required or agree on a viable path forward with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to deliver its flagship demonstration project at the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) tidal energy demonstration site. Because of this, Sustainable Marine is not able to meet its obligations to its project financing partners, according to a release.

Last year, Sustainable Marine harnessed the tidal currents in the Bay of Fundy and sold power to Nova Scotia’s grid using its floating in-stream tidal platform (PLAT-I). The achievement marked a significant milestone for the company and Canada’s marine energy ambitions, demonstrating that the immense tidal energy resource — containing four times the combined flow of every freshwater river in the world — can be used, delivering up to 2,500 MW of clean and predictable energy.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) provided significant grant support, and the project at Grand Passage was delivered under a license provided by the Province of Nova Scotia. DFO authorized operation of a single platform during daylight hours only. Sustainable Marine planned to leverage the learning gained from testing of environmental monitoring technologies and methodologies performed in Grand Passage to deliver the Pempa’q Instream Tidal Energy Project at FORCE, in the Minas Passage.

This step-by-step approach enabled the team to manage technical risks and prove the low environmental impact of its technology, through an ambitious and advanced Environmental Monitoring program, Sustainable Marine said. With support from fish tracking and subsea imaging experts, more than 5,000 hours of video data was amassed over five years, beginning in 2018. Findings remained consistent with all other studies completed over the past 20 years of the deployment and operation of horizontal-axis in-stream tidal turbines, with no negative interactions or harm to marine life observed, the company said.

Sustainable Marine’s next project at FORCE would be delivered in phases, starting with a three-platform array.

Sustainable Marine made substantial investments that would enable it to deliver its project at the FORCE site, which has proven very challenging to operate in. This included construction of the Tidal Pioneer inshore construction vessel equipped with 4-point mooring and dynamic positioning systems.

Recently, the firm suspended its operations at Grand Passage while conversations with government officials and project investors continued to take place.

Sustainable Marine Chief Executive Officer Jason Hayman said a decision was made to place the company into voluntary bankruptcy after receiving a letter from the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, which failed to provide investors with confidence or certainty. It did not answer questions posed about the risk assessment methodology used or shed light on what a transparent regulatory process for the delivery of tidal energy projects in Canada could look like.

Hayman added that the firm has attempted to work with DFO over the past five years to come up with different approaches to press ahead, including staged deployments with various forms of environmental monitoring. He said DFO’s claims of “openness” toward a short-term installation of a single turbine in the Minas Basin, for continued environmental monitoring, have been propagated for more than 18 months. Yet discussions have never materialized into authorization.

“We are enormously disappointed to be closing our business in Canada” he said. “This is a great shame considering not only our technology is ready, but there have also been massive investments in the tools and infrastructure necessary to deliver the project. I hope that officials within DFO will be able to come forward with a clear explanation to our team of 20 hard-working people in Nova Scotia, who have lost their jobs, plus many good and well-meaning people in Canada, Germany and the UK who have invested in the development of a clean and ultra-low environmental impact means of generating electricity.”

To secure the site at Grand Passage and to ensure no lasting environmental impact, the PLAT-I platforms have been placed into storage, with all equipment removed from the seabed at the site.