Options for Canadian renewables: the Nova Scotia marine energy case Seminar

Speaker information

AbuBakr Bahaj ,Professor AbuBakr S Bahaj, FICE, FRSA, MInstP, CPhys is head of the Energy & Climate Change Division (ECCD) at the University of Southampton where he completed his PhD in 1982, and progressed from a researcher to a Personal Chair of Sustainable Energy. For more than 25 years, Prof Bahaj has pioneered sustainable energy research as the head of one of the UK’s leading university-based research groups, the Sustainable Energy Research Group, (SERG). The aims of ECCD and SERG are to promote and conduct fundamental and applied research and pre-industrial development in the areas of energy technologies, improvements in energy efficiency and assessing the impact of climate change on the built environment. Under the leadership of Prof Bahaj, the SERG involvement in ground breaking research projects in the UK, as well as in China, the Middle East and Africa, has been pivotal. Prof Bahaj is a major contributor to the energy debate at local, national and EU levels as well as through the organisation of and participation at major international conferences and meetings.

Bruce Cameron , Nova Scotia Department of Energy. Bruce Cameron is Executive Director of Sustainable and Renewable Energy at the Nova Scotia Department of Energy. He leads the Department on renewable energy, electricity policy, energy conservation and efficiency, and growing the use of natural gas. He is the government representative on the board of the province’s offshore energy research association (OERA). Mr. Cameron did his undergraduate work in the social sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa and received an MBA from Dalhousie Univer-sity in 1985. Bruce has been involved in a variety of roles in energy issues and policies since 1999. He also spent three and a half years with the Nova Scotia Department of Finance.

Anna Redden , Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research. Dr Anna Redden is a marine ecologist and professor in Biology, with degrees from Acadia University (BScHon, MSc) and Memorial University (PhD). Her postdoctoral work was conducted in Australia, after which she was appointed to a faculty position at Newcastle University in New South Wales, Australia. She returned to Nova Scotia and to Acadia in 2005 to assume the positions of Associate Professor in Biology and Director of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research. Since 2009, Dr Redden has been a Director on the Board of the Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE) and serves on committees of the Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia. She has over 30 years of experience working on a broad range of environmental issues and effects monitoring in coastal waters. This includes environmental studies at North America’s only Tidal Power Plant, at Annapolis Royal, during the 1980s, contributions to ecosystem modelling workshops on the conse-quences of an Upper Bay of Fundy tidal barrage (early 1980s), and recent research with local tidal energy project developers at the FORCE tidal power demonstration facility in the Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy. Anna’s research activities with collaborators and students at Acadia involve understanding how marine animals utilise high flow environments. This involves tracking the movements of coastal fishes and lobsters, assessing marine mammal activity patterns and investigations of sediment-animal relationships. Dr Redden is the co-founder and co-executive chair of the Fundy Energy Research Network (FERN), established in 2010 to assist the province, FORCE, the emerging tidal energy industry and the research community in working collaboratively to address a range of environmental, engineering and socio-economic needs and challenges. Anna is also the Director of the newly established Tidal Energy Institute at Acadia University.

Sandra Farwell , Nova Scotia Department of Energy. Sandra Farwell is the Director of Sustainable and Renewable Energy with the Nova Scotia Department of Energy. Much of her work with the Department has been related to implementing the Province’s energy plan, which included the development of the Nova Scotia’s Marine Renewable Energy Strategy and Renewable Electricity Plan. Sandra has worked with the Nova Scotia Department of Energy for the past 8 years in the area of policy and regulatory develop-ment and stakeholder engagement. She led the creation of the Province’s regulatory framework for marine renewable energy and serves as the provincial government member on the Board of FORCE -Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy- Canada’s leading research centre for in-stream tidal energy. Prior to joining government, Sandra worked for several years in the field of fisheries and marine management where she fo-cused on policy and regulatory affairs. Sandra holds a B.Sc. in Biology, a BA in Sociology and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA), from Dalhousie University.

Stephen Dempsey , Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia. Stephen Dempsey is the Executive Director of the Offshore Energy Research Association of Nova Scotia which is the preeminent energy research organization in Canada focused on leading edge research to enable the responsible development of Nova Sco-tia’s offshore energy resources. In this role, Stephen is helping to identify and respond to the key research questions impacting the development of the world’s largest tidal energy resource located in Nova Scotia, as well as developing research and investment strategies to attract explora-tion commitments for the Nova Scotia offshore petroleum sector, which has received the largest ever financial commitments as a result of the OERA’s research efforts. In his prior role as CEO of the largest economic development partnership in the region, Stephen has led various major trans-formative projects in the areas of energy and medical research, both in Atlantic Canada and globally. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on the subject of energy research and economic growth. Stephen has served on many boards including the Halifax International Airport Authority and the Partners in Care Association of Capital Health. He received his Bachelor of Commerce from Saint Mary’s University and his MBA from the University of Ottawa. Stephen, an avid sailor, sea kayaker and biker, lives in beautiful Ketch Harbour, Nova Scotia.