SEQUIM — The 77 researchers at the Sequim arm of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are to be part of a $6.8 million study of ocean- and river-generated power, the national lab announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, or EERE, has awarded the funding for tidal and river power research over the next three years, said Franny White, spokeswoman for the Richland-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The Sequim Marine Sciences Laboratory on Sequim Bay is the national lab’s coastal research center, with facilities on 140 waterfront and upland acres. Managed by Battelle Memorial Institute, the campus is known locally as Battelle.

The labs are situated alongside “the premier tidal resource in the nation,” the Strait of Juan de Fuca, director Charlie Brandt has said.

But before power companies can start harvesting the ocean’s energy, scientists such as those in Sequim must scrutinize the environmental impacts — and develop turbines and other devices to do no harm to the marine ecosystem.

The Department of Energy is earmarking about half of its $6.8 million funding package for that purpose: $3.45 million will be spent on examining what risks marine and hydrokinetic power generation poses to water bodies and wildlife.

Marine energy includes power harnessed from the flux of ocean tides and waves, while hydrokinetic refers to power generated by freshwater flowing without dams.

“Understanding how harnessing marine and hydrokinetic energy can affect the environment is key,” Brandt said.

“This work will help remove the roadblocks that currently prevent developers from putting tidal-, wave- and current-powered machines in the water.”

The project’s research teams will conduct laboratory and field experiments to investigate certain risks, White added, and predict the long-term impact of full-scale energy installations.

Devices vs. marine life

The scientists will look at how water-power devices — induced electromagnetic fields, noise and blade strikes — directly affect fish and marine mammals, White said.

They will seek to determine whether marine and river power generation devices create “dead zones” by interfering with the ocean’s circulation and nutrient patterns.

The Energy Department funding will mean some staffing increases at the Sequim labs, White said, though she couldn’t estimate how many positions will be added.

The marine and freshwater power field studies and lab research will start within a month, she said.

The award announced this week is separate from the proposed $1.75 million in funding included in the U.S. Senate’s 2010 spending bill, White said. Earlier this summer Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Freeland, pushed for the money to support tidal-power research at the Sequim labs.

Murray’s proposal won a unanimous vote in the Senate; the U.S. House of Representatives’ spending bill must be reconciled with that of the Senate, and Murray hopes her $1.75 million will be included in the legislation that goes to President Barack Obama’s desk for a signature.

Congress is on summer recess until Tuesday, Sept. 8, but members hope to have their 2010 spending bill approved by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.

The Energy Department funding will mean some staffing increases at the Sequim labs, White said, though she couldn’t estimate how many positions will be added.

The marine and freshwater power field studies and lab research will start within a month, she said.

The Sequim scientists will work in concert with their Pacific Northwest National Laboratory colleagues in Richland, Seattle and Portland, Ore., and with freshwater-power researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which is near the Clinch River.

Other collaborators on the project include the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, to which Oregon State University and the University of Washington belong, and Pacific Energy Ventures, an Oregon renewable energy consulting firm.

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.