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Tidal power will get a tryout in Washington. Over protests, an Everett utility has won the right to test tidal turbines at the bottom of Puget Sound.

Federal regulators have issued a 10-year license to the Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) No. 1, which hopes to place two turbines, each about 20-feet in diameter, on the bottom of Admiralty Inlet.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the 600-kilowatt Admiralty Inlet Project, “an innovative attempt to harness previously untapped energy resources,” said Acting FERC Chairman Cheryl LaFleur in a press release.

A California company, Pacific Crossing, that owns two trans-ocean fiber optic telecommunications cables that run nearby failed to stop the estimated $20 million experimental project. FERC concluded that the project would not pose a risk to the cable.

The project is “designed to study, monitor, and evaluate the environmental, economic, and cultural effects of hydro-kinetic energy,” according to FERC.

The utility plans a 3-5 year test to learn if tidal power is efficient and cost effective, before removing the turbines. The soonest the turbines could be operating is next year.