Ocean energy in Canada is still early, but it's no longer just a research topic. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and in November 2025 Nova Scotia awarded new tidal licences that should put commercial-scale turbines in the water there. On the Pacific coast, First Nations are doing early work on wave energy. Neither will power the country on its own any time soon. Both could become a steady, predictable source of clean power for coastal regions.
Key takeaways
- Ocean energy mainly means tidal stream (underwater turbines in fast currents), tidal range (barrages or lagoons) and wave energy.
- The Bay of Fundy's Minas Passage is Canada's main tidal testing ground. A late-2025 award covers 12.5 MW of new turbines there.
- Tides are predictable decades in advance. That's the big advantage ocean energy has over wind and solar.
- The main hurdles are cost, harsh conditions and protecting marine life. Several earlier projects stalled or were pulled out.
- The biggest near-term opportunity may be remote coastal communities that now rely on diesel.
How ocean energy works
There's more than one way to get electricity from the sea. If the terms are new, our glossary and the ocean energy overview explain them.
Tidal stream
Tidal stream turbines work a bit like underwater wind turbines. Seawater is about 800 times denser than air, so even a modest current carries a lot of energy. The turbines sit on the seabed or hang from floating platforms in channels where the tide runs fast.
Tidal range
A tidal range project traps water behind a barrage or lagoon at high tide, then lets it out through turbines, much like a low-head hydro dam. Canada had one of the world's few tidal range stations at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. It ran for decades before closing in 2019. Large barrages have become hard to justify because they change the ecosystem behind them.
Wave energy
Wave devices capture the up-and-down or back-and-forth motion of ocean swells. Canada's best wave resource is on the exposed west coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, where long Pacific swells roll in all year.
| Technology | Where in Canada | Predictability | Maturity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidal stream | Bay of Fundy (NS), some BC channels | Very high | Early commercial |
| Tidal range | Bay of Fundy (historical) | Very high | Mature but few new projects |
| Wave | West coast of BC | Moderate (forecastable days ahead) | Pilot/pre-demonstration |
The Bay of Fundy: Canada's tidal proving ground
Twice a day, more water moves through the Minas Passage than flows in all the world's rivers combined. The currents are powerful. That's what makes the site so promising, and also what has broken equipment there.
The Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) runs a test site with pre-built grid connections and environmental monitoring. Developers lease berths instead of building everything themselves. The site has seen real progress and real setbacks:
- An early in-stream turbine fed power to the Nova Scotia grid in 2016, Canada's first from tidal stream. The developer later ran into financial trouble.
- Other companies tested floating and seabed designs in the area, and at least one left Nova Scotia in 2023.
- In November 2025, Nova Scotia's tidal procurement named Eauclaire Tidal and Orbital Marine Power as licence awardees. They plan six of Orbital's floating O2-X turbines at FORCE, totalling 12.5 MW under two 15-year power purchase agreements. The partners say they plan to work with First Nation partners and local communities.
Twelve and a half megawatts is small next to a big wind farm or hydro dam. What matters more is the long-term contracts and a turbine design that has already run in Scottish waters. Together they point to a shift from one-off experiments toward steady, commercial operation.
Wave energy on the Pacific coast
Wave power is less developed than tidal in Canada, but it's moving. In 2026, Natural Resources Canada funded the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation to complete regulatory and site preparation work for a pre-demonstration wave project at Yuquot, on Vancouver Island's west coast. Other coastal communities, including in Haida Gwaii, are including ocean energy in their wider energy planning.
Many of these communities are off the main grid and burn diesel for electricity. Diesel is expensive to ship in, it's noisy and it adds to local air pollution. Even a small, reliable wave or tidal system could cut fuel use a lot, especially alongside batteries and solar.
What's holding ocean energy back
Ocean energy has real promise, but it's honest to say why it's still small.
- Harsh environment. Saltwater corrodes metal, currents reach several metres per second, and storms can be violent. Equipment has to survive conditions that would wreck most machines.
- High costs today. Each project is close to custom-built, and installing and maintaining equipment at sea needs specialised vessels. Costs per kilowatt-hour are still well above mature wind and solar. They should come down as more projects are built.
- Marine life. Fish, marine mammals and seabirds share these waters. Regulators use an adaptive approach. Developers have to monitor how animals respond, then expand only if the evidence supports it.
- Grid access. The best sites are often far from big cities and need new transmission.
- Investor patience. Several companies have run out of money before reaching commercial scale. That has made financing harder for those that followed.
Why predictability matters for the grid
Most renewables vary with the weather. Tides follow the moon and can be forecast years ahead, down to the minute. A grid operator knows exactly when tidal output will rise and fall. That makes it easier to plan around than wind or sun.
That doesn't make tidal "baseload" power. Output still peaks and dips four times a day, around slack water. But predictable variation is far easier to manage than surprises. In a future grid with lots of wind, solar and storage, a slice of tidal power could help smooth things out, especially in Atlantic Canada.
Frequently asked questions
Is ocean energy the same as offshore wind?
No. Offshore wind uses wind turbines placed at sea. Ocean energy captures the movement of the water itself, through tides, currents or waves. Both can be part of a coastal province's clean-energy mix.
Will tidal turbines harm whales and fish?
That's the key environmental question, and it's why Canadian projects must monitor marine life closely. Turbines spin relatively slowly and many animals appear to avoid them, but the evidence is still building, so regulators approve projects in stages.
Could I ever get ocean energy at home?
Not directly. Ocean energy is a utility-scale or community-scale technology. If you live in Nova Scotia or a coastal BC community, some of your grid electricity may eventually come from tidal or wave projects.
The bottom line
Canadian ocean energy probably won't grow fast. But the tides in the Bay of Fundy and the swells off Vancouver Island aren't going anywhere, and they're more predictable than almost any other clean resource. If the new Fundy turbines run reliably and coastal communities show that wave power can replace diesel, the 2030s could be when ocean energy finally earns a regular place in Canada's electricity mix. To see how it fits with the rest of the transition, read our look at the future of clean energy.
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