Utility gets OK to start tidal-power study

The Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) will begin studying five northern Puget Sound sites for their tidal-power potential after permits were issued Thursday by federal regulators.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said the PUD may research sites at Speiden Channel and San Juan Channel, off San Juan Island; Guemes Channel, near Anacortes; and Agate Passage and Rich Passage, along Bainbridge Island.

Permit applications for two other sites — Deception Pass, at the north end of Whidbey Island, and Admiralty Inlet, between Whidbey and the Olympic Peninsula — are still under federal review. They are believed to have the most potential, and there are competing applications to study those locations.

The PUD now has three years to determine whether the five sites are economically viable and environmentally safe as tidal-power sites. The PUD will begin making sophisticated tidal-current measurements next month with the help of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which helped Tacoma Power start its tidal-power project at the Tacoma Narrows. The Tacoma Narrows project was the first approved for study in Washington.

During the past two years, FERC has received about 50 applications for tidal-power projects, most of those filed last summer.

As a result of the high level of interest, FERC slowed the permit process last fall.

Regulators say they will need to scrutinize progress reports every six months to help establish a permanent rule for tidal projects. That's OK with Rebecca Sherman of the Hydropower Reform Coalition, which wants to protect environmental interests.

"We think the policy is a good step forward as FERC tries to figure out how to regulate this new industry," Sherman said. "The number of applicants for Puget Sound sites alone means this is going to be a hotbed of activity."

What's needed, say environmentalists, is a cumulative study on how tidal-power projects will impact marine mammals such as orcas and fish, including salmon.

All of that eventually will be done, said Roger Bedard, EPRI's ocean energy leader.

"It's going to take time to sort out all of the questions concerning this technology," Bedard said. "Now we get the chance to really begin, but it will be years before any plant is ever licensed or built."

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-783-0577 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com