Joe Hood, president of Akoostix, located in Burnside Business Park, has partnered with Black Rock Tidal Power Inc., a subsidiary of Schottel, a German firm, and was one of many Canadian and international firms that exhibited its expertise at the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax this week.
Black Rock is one of four firms that will have a test turbine in the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) in Parrsboro.
Established in 2008, FORCE has four berths with the largest transmission capacity of tidal energy sites in the world, with a capacity of 64 MW.
Hood spent 15 years in the military focusing on underwater surveillance, primarily submarines, before establishing his company nine years ago. His work now is in defence and security, environmental monitoring and ocean observation.
“It turns out what I looked at for submarines, turbines in some ways are the same. They have gear boxes, blades, so it’s easy for me to translate what I’ve learned, easy for me to translate the software that has been developed,” he said in an interview with the Daily Business Buzz.
Hood says he has been interested in the marine life in the Bay of Fundy for many years, but he only dropped his sounding equipment into the water this year when the company partnered with Black Rock in Ireland where it had a turbine in the water.
So far his company has only monitored the noise from two turbine designs and both tended to be quieter than most fishing boats and some ferries with large engines.
The data he collects from his underwater monitors is then given to professional analysts who determine whether the noise emitted from those turbines can harm marine life.
“The professionals on that end who have looked at the numbers I have measured suggest that there shouldn’t be an impact based on their published numbers of noise limits,” says Hood, but adds that more study has to be done.
“Trying to prove a negative is hard,” says Hood. “Did you look at the right time, did you look in the right way? Proving a positive is much easier.”
He explains that there are several levels of noise in the ocean that could cause varying kinds of damage marine mammals, from temporary hearing loss to behavioural changes which could turn them away from foraging areas so they wouldn’t eat as much as they should.
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Editor’s Note:
Shortly after The Daily Business Buzz spoke with Joe Hood on Thursday afternoon, GeoSpectrum Technologies Inc. (GTI) of Dartmouth announced that they have acquired Akoostix Inc. GTI is a leading provider of hydroacoustic hardware.
Paul Yeatman, president of GTI, said Akoostix’s processing capability complements his company’s transducer expertise and is expected to position GTI as a strong contender for system sales in the Asia-Pacific region, the unmanned vehicle sector, and other burgeoning markets.
Hood said he is excited by the acquisition as it will allow the company to broaden its user base. Akoostix will continue to operate under its current organizational structure in the short term, he noted.
