NORDLAND — The Navy will sink tidal turbines in Admiralty Inlet off the eastern shores of Marrowstone Island to generate power that would light a parking lot and up to two buildings at the Naval Magazine Indian Island loading pier.

It’s just a test, however, and once the study is done the turbines would be removed and possibly sold, said Sheila Murray, Navy Region Northwest environmental public affairs officer.

“We’re just doing this on behalf of the public. Congress gave us the funding to do the study,” Murray said of the $2 million pilot project the Navy plans to commence in 2010.

The Navy would be dropped in the vicinity of Admiralty Inlet where Snohomish County Public Utility District has plans to place turbines in 2011.

The turbines would be removed a year later and sold, but Murray said she did not know whether Snohomish or any other PUD would buy up to six turbines expected to be used in the project.

Wayne King, Jefferson County PUD commissioners chairman, said PUD is interested in the project.

“We already have talks scheduled with the Navy,” he said, adding PUD was not ready to elaborate.

PUD considers alternatives

Jefferson County PUD, which since November has voter-approved authority to provide electric service, is considering delivering power through alternative energy sources but must first plan its acquisition of power service facilities in East Jefferson County now owned by Puget Sound Energy.

Snohomish PUD in March 2007 secured a preliminary permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to install tidal energy systems in Admiralty Inlet, which runs east and south of Marrowstone Island.

Snohomish PUD beat out the city of Port Townsend, which applied to conduct a pilot tidal energy project off Point Wilson, because the city filed its application three months after the PUD.

Other sites Snohomish plans to install tidal energy systems include the San Juan Channel and San Juan Islands, Deception Pass on the north end of Whidbey Island and Guemes Channel near the San Juan Islands.

The Marrowstone Island project’s purpose is to test the effectiveness of tidal power in the area, Murray said.

Sites near the north and south ends of Marrowstone Island’s eastern shores are being studied for the turbines. One of the two sites will be later chosen for the project, Murray said.

Snohomish PUD’s project site is north of Marrowstone Island, she said.

Murray said Snohomish PUD and Navy are communicating and could collaborate to some extent, since the project sites are adjacent.

The Navy is still in the early stages of its designs, according to Murray.

She said the National Defense Act of 2007 directed the Defense Department to generate 25 percent its power from renewable sources by 2025.

She said the Navy is studying other sources of power, including wind, biofuels, ocean thermal energy conversion and solar power.

“It’s important that we break away from our dependence on foreign oil,” Murray said.

Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.