BY TIMOTHY O’HARA

Citizen Staff

A group trying to test a hydro-powered turbine in the Bahia Honda Channel won over its toughest audience so far on Tuesday.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council grilled Keys Hydro Power about the environmental effects of placing large propellers and other equipment in a protected area, but ultimately voted 9-6 to allow it to test one turbine off Bahia Honda.

Approval did not come without opposition. Deb Harrison, a member of the council as well as the governor’s panel on energy and climate change, said professors at Florida Atlantic University, which has a nationally renowned hydro-energy research program, raised concerns with her about the turbines.

The vibrations could attract fish, turtles and other marine mammals, interrupting their natural migratory patterns, she said. Turbines also could erode the ocean floor and change the patterns of water currents, forcing the group to move them continually, Harrison said.

She also argued the group would have to have hundreds of turbines, not just one test model, to be effective.

“If it was this easy, they [Florida Atlantic University] would have done it a long time ago,” said Harrison, who is a supporter of clean, renewable energy. “What we need to think about are the impacts if we expanded this.”

Harrison requested the council not approve the project until Florida Atlantic University could review potential environmental effects.

The council, made up of Florida Keys conservationists, marine biologists and commercial and sport fishermen, said it did not want the project to lose momentum. As a compromise to Harrison’s proposal, the council supported the project but requested the group consult with Florida Atlantic University if possible, and consider the environmental effects in its tests, not just the feasibility.

“I wouldn’t call it an overwhelming endorsement,” said council member Ken Nedimyer, who chaired the meeting. “Conceptually, the project has merit, and we agree that it should move forward.”

Key West inventor Douglas Bedgood has proposed harnessing the energy from the currents racing through Bahia Honda Channel and converting it into electricity to power the Lower Keys. His group has been working with several Florida engineering firms on designs for a series of underwater turbines that would be put a half-mile south of the Bahia Honda Bridge.

The Monroe County Commission, Key West City Commission and Keys Energy Services’ Utility Board have passed resolutions supporting a test turbine.

Now Bedgood needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which issues permits for such projects. State mandates are on his side. A new governor’s initiative requires 20 percent of Florida’s energy be renewable and clean by 2020. Currently only 2 percent is renewable, according to Bedgood.

tohara@keysnews.com