Item L3 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
BOCC
Meeting Date: October 17, 2007 Division:
Bulk Item: Yes ___x_ No ____ Department: Neugent – District 2
Staff Contact Person/Phone #:
Terri Marble X4512
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Approval of a resolution of the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida supporting the upcoming test by Keys Hydro Power to determine the feasibility
of providing hydro power through turbine farms to generate low-cost electricity to the
Florida Keys
ITEM BACKGROUND:
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
TOTAL COST: _______na_______ BUDGETED: Yes ____ No _____
COST TO COUNTY: ___na_________ SOURCE OF FUNDS: _______________
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes __ No___ AMOUNT PER MONTH ___ Year ___
APPROVED BY: County Atty _____ OMB/Purchasing _____Risk Management ____
DOCUMENTATION: Included ___x____ Not Required _____
DISPOSITION: _________________ AGENDA ITEM # ______________
Revised 11/06
Florida Keys Hydropower Research Corporation
733 Love Lane; Key West, FL 33040; 305-587-3895
www.floridakeyshydropower.com
email: douglas@floridakeyshydropower.com
TO: The Board of Commissioners of Monroe County
October 17, 2007 meeting
Keys Hydro Power has applied for a joint permit to use an area in the
Bahia Honda Channel for testing a tidal current turbine. If the permit
is issued and testing is successful, the next phase is to draft a permit
application for a tidal current turbine farm in the same general area
as the test. The objective for this non-profit corporation is to produce
clean, economical electrical power sufficient for the 160 megawatt
residential, commercial, and military energy needs of the entire
Lower Keys with surplus going up the tie line to other municipalities
using tidal currents as the fuel.
The vast, unending energy from the tides will be locally harnessed
and locally consumed. Renewable, emission free, clean, non-carbon
fuel that will not contribute to global climate change is the primary
objective.
The goals are lofty. The benefits are great. There are potential
problems to solve with research along the way. Keys Hydro Power
would like you to pass a Resolution in support of this project.
Tha~yoJ' . j
M~
Douglas Bedgood
President - Keys Hydro Powe
L,!J
/(/17/07
0 950 1,900 3,800 5,700 7,6~0
eet
N
A
depth
in feet
1-6
10
14
,
18
22
26
30
Water depths in the vicinity of the proposed
Keys Hydro Power project, Bahia Honda Channel
Proposed site location
Florida Keys Hydropower Research Corporation turbine experiment
100ft x 50ft footprint (white rectangle) at Bahia Honda Channel
Refer to water depths bathymetric map for geographic reference.
.
(305) 295-1000
1001 James Street
PO Box 6100
Key West, FL 33041-6100
www.KeysEnergy.com
UTILITY
BOARD OF THE CITY OF
KEY WEST
October 5, 2007
Mr. Douglas Bedgood
Florida Keys Hydropower Research Corp.
733 Love Lane
Key West, FL 33040
Dear Mr. Bedgood:
On behalf of the Utility Board of the City of Key West, Florida, I would like to commend
Florida Keys Hydropower Research Corporation, a registered non-profit Florida
corporation, for their plans to study the feasibility of building tidal current hydro turbine
farms in channels of the Florida Keys for the purpose of generating electricity.
The Utility Board and Keys Energy are eager to see the results of the experimental data
collecting turbine test at Bahia Honda Channel and hope that a successful result of the
feasibility study may lead to the design of hydro turbine farms that will have the
potential of providing electricity at less expense for the citizens, businesses, and military
in the Florida Keys; and
The Utility Board purchases all of its energy through the All-Requirements Contract with
the Florida Municipal Power Agency. The Utility Board passed a resolution asking the
Florida Municipal Power Agency to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to commit
to alternative fuel sources. We have encouraged Florida Municipal Power Agency to
monitor the feasibility study as it could result in a generating facility that uses little or no
fuel and is an environmentally-friendly, alternative sources of energy that does not
produce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Utility Board is supportive of the feasibility study of hydropower in the Florida Keys
and we would urge all permitting agencies to give their timely consideration and
appropriate support when considering applications on behalf of the feasibility study.
Sincerely,
/, n/~7
C ! I 1 c r i:
/l{:f;tf <\l ~ecC:~~
Robert R. Padron .
Utility Board Chairman
c:
Utility Board Members
Florida Keys Hydro Power Research Corporation is a Florida non-profit with an
IRS-501c3 filing. The mission is to reduce human caused sources of global
climate change, carbon emissions, with research and development of tidal
current turbine farms to supply locally produced, clean, renewable,
alternative, emission-free, carbon-free, non-combustible, environmentally
responsible, low cost electrical power to the energy grids in Florida,
specifically for the Florida Keys, with surplus power fed to other mainland
Florida municipalities.
The first proposed tidal turbine farm, to be the largest in the world, is planned
for Bahia Honda Channel south of the Seven Mile Bridge. This completed tidal
turbine farm will include a state-of-the-art substation, subsurface bedrock
directional drilling for a sub sea cable route, and a multiple series of turbines
mounted to the floor of the Channel where the flow is strongest at thirty feet
deep, one half mile south of the old abandoned railroad bridge built by Henry
Flagler in 1912. Engineering for all these components of the full-scale project
are in progress. The fuel for this underwater "power plant" is clean and free.
The moon will do the work.
A turbine vendor and manufacturer in Florida is designing and fabricating a
customized prototype, adapting their turbine to our needs using the latest
large-generator technology for temporary installation, to monitor energy
output throughout the tidal current velocities, to look for environmental
impacts, and as a test trial of the equipment for functional efficiency and
durability at our proposed test site.
The joint Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps
of Engineers Permit Application that is in process is classified de minimus or
low impact.
A Certification Application is being prepared for the Florida Energy Office in
Tallahassee if an order is needed by the Governor and Cabinet to meet the
requirements of the Power Plant Siting Act. Emission-free, non-thermal power
plants are new to the Energy Office and may not need that type of
certification. However, the DEP permit application for the underwater power
plant project is very detailed and time consuming with each agency involved.
Public meetings will be preceding determinations.
There are resolutions in support of the project and to establish a local energy
policy before the County and Key West Commissions, and Utility Board. A
second potential site is being studied for a 2nd turbine farm location to offset
tidal schedules for consistent power. An informal inter-agency conference was
held on September 12, 2007 at Keys Hydro Power headquarters in Key West
covering many aspects of the feaSibility study as well as the overall project
being proposed.