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Real Gulf Power: FAU Touts Renewable First

Crowd Energy

Florida Atlantic University researchers say they’ve reached a milestone in their seven-year effort to convert the Gulf Stream into a reliable source of electric power.

Officials with the Southeast National Renewable Energy Center say they just inked a deal with a Lake Worth municipal power plant, clearing the way for offshore testing.

Lake Worth lobbyist Richard Pinsky told the House Energy and Utilities Subcommittee the deal is revolutionary.

“This is different. What you are hearing, no one else, really in the United States, certainly in Florida, is hearing before today. This potential, certainly eclipses every renewable energy source.”

Researchers are asking for a 350 thousand dollar grant from the Florida Office of Energy, a division of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Pinsky says the money would be used for cables needed to connect the plant to the offshore generating site.

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.