Years of work, millions invested, and in the end it appears the financial currents of affordable energy proved too much for Admiralty Inlet.
This week, the Snohomish County Public Utility District announced it has scrubbed its research project exploring tidal energy in the waters between Fort Casey on Central Whidbey and Port Townsend due to unexpected financial problems with its partner, the federal Department of Energy.
What a shame.
One of the great topics of the world today is the use of fossil fuels, their link to global warming and the ever increasing focus and development of sustainable and renewable energy sources. Puget Sound would have become the only place in the Pacific Northwest — and one of the few on the planet — where the potential of tidal energy was being explored, all on the west side of Whidbey Island.
Beginning in 2006, the project proposed to install two 414-ton turbines on the sea floor, which would have provided enough electricity to power about 100 Whidbey homes. The idea was to study the potential of tidal turbines as a long-term energy source.
The price tag was initially estimated at $20 million, with funding being split equally between the utility and DOE. That plan came crashing down this summer, however, as costs mushroomed to $38 million. The terms of the agreement between the two parties are in dispute, but essentially DOE officials say the deal was that Uncle Sam would pay up to $10 million, no more.
Utility leaders said Tuesday that the partnership was crucial, and that it couldn’t justify the project without additional financial assistance.
The fallout comes after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued Snohomish PUD a license in March, and after the power company had already invested about $3.5 million.
DOE’s lack of financial support for the project is unclear as agency officials declined multiple requests for an interview this week with The Record’s news partner, The Daily Herald.
Also, the decision flies in the face of President Barack Obama’s outspoken position on renewable energy. Just this week in an address at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, the president emphasized the importance of investing in clean energy technologies as a machine for job creation.
Snohomish PUD’s tidal turbine project was the real-life embodiment of such statements, and to see it crumble under a lack of commitment from federal partners is unfortunate. Western Washington was one of the handful of communities ready to put its money where its mouth is, and instead of becoming a beacon of light in the shade of renewable energy we’re left with a tide of regret.
