| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 1:04 pm |
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Local News 
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Navy, PUD both hunt for power from tides The U.S. Navy wants to find out if tides are a viable source of future energy. The Snohomish County PUD isn't the only government agency wading into the pool in the hunt for tidal energy. The U.S. Navy is planning to get its feet wet as well.The Navy expects to drop tidal turbines into the water off Marrowstone Island in Admiralty Inlet in 2010, not far from where the PUD is studying installing equipment of its own the following year. The Navy is looking at a one-year pilot demonstration project only, in which the turbines would be removed in the fall of 2011 and sold. The purpose of the $2 million project is to help determine the usefulness of tidal power in the future, spokeswoman Sheila Murray said. "The Navy's focus for the existing project is to demonstrate the technology as part of research and development," Murray said. Two to three turbines -- and up to six, if more funding is approved -- would power the lights for a parking lot or one or two buildings at the Navy's ammunition depot on Indian Island, next to Marrowstone Island south of Port Townsend, Murray said. Two locations along the eastern side of Marrowstone Island are being studied for the turbines and they likely will be installed in one of those two spots, Murray said. After a year, the turbines would be removed and offered for sale to companies or utilities. Whether the PUD would be interested in picking up the Navy's turbines after its project is finished is uncertain, PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said. "I'm not sure if there's an opportunity there or not at this point, it depends what happens with the pilot," he said. For its own project, the PUD, after studying Deception Pass and other sites, has settled on a spot in Admiralty Inlet about a mile off Admiralty Head, several miles north of Marrowstone Island. The PUD and Navy are communicating about their projects, officials with both agencies said. Because the two plan to install their turbines near each other around the same time, they could collaborate on some of the logistics. These could include environmental and marine engineering studies, co-locating cables for power transmission and coordinating other engineering matters, Neroutsos said. "We're very interested in the (Navy) project," he said. The Navy is still in the early stages of its designs and is working with other regulatory agencies and local Indian tribes, officials said. Congress, in the National Defense Act of 2007, directed the Defense Department, including the Navy, to generate 25 percent of the power it uses from renewable sources by 2025. Though the Navy would not keep the turbines, it is studying other sources of power to meet the 2025 goal, according to Murray. These include wind, biofuels, ocean thermal energy conversion and solar power, as well as tidal energy, she said. The PUD is now studying different types of turbines and shopping for vendors for its project, Neroutsos said. He didn't have cost figures for the project yet but said the utility has spent about $1 million in the past year in research and development. About half of that is covered under a grant from the Department of Energy, Neroutsos said. The PUD will start by testing a pilot project with three turbines that would generate one megawatt of energy, enough to power about 700 homes. The utility could eventually have hundreds of turbines in the water, generating enough electricity for 70,000 homes. Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com. |
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