WATCH: UVic researchers get funding for innovative clean energy projects. April Lawrence reports.
The University of Victoria will be receiving $1.4 million in federal funding to establish an institute for developing marine renewable energy technologies.
The funding was announced by Parliamentary secretary Jonathan Wilkinson at the University of Victoria on Thursday. The university said the $1.4 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada will go toward setting up the Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery.
The institute will be led by mechanical engineer Brad Buckham. It will help develop and commercialize wind, wave and tidal energy technologies. It will also support the adoption of alternative technologies in remote coastal communities, including Indigenous communities, who rely on diesel fuel generators for electricity.
“Some of these ecosystems these barges are pulled through by virtue of where the fuel comes from and where the community is are some of the most pristine ecosystems in the world,” said Buckham.
UVic will also be receiving $1 million from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, in conjunction with Seaspan. That investment will go toward the green transportation research team that is working with UVic’s Institute for Integrated Energy Systems. The team is led by mechanical engineer Zuomin Dong.
“We have to adjust to what we believe is coming in the future and what we believe is coming in the future is different sources of energy, different uses of energy and a constant push to be cleaner and have less impact on the environment,” said Seaspan Victoria Shipyard General Manager Joe O’Rourke.
According to the university, the funding will help heavy-duty marine, mining and transportation sectors meet greenhouse gas reduction targets and climate change mitigation goals.
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