"It's my hope that with the leadership of states like Maine, we can get some of these tidal energy projects into the water so their effects can be measured and their benefits demonstrated," FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller said in a release.
Several companies are racing to generate clean power by building machines with turbines that turn with the natural cycles of the tides.
Ireland's OpenHydro said recently it sees full-scale tidal power plants operating before 2014 as it builds pilot projects for utilities in the United States, Canada and France. The company's tidal "farms" would have each a capacity of 50 megawatts or greater, with individual turbines of 1.5 to 2 MW.
Previously the FERC signed agreements on tidal power with the states of Oregon and Washington.