BOARD MEETING DATE: May 4, 2007
AGENDA NO. 3
PROPOSAL:
Execute Contract to Conduct Hybrid Tugboat Demonstration and Memorandum of Agreement with Port of Los Angeles
SYNOPSIS:
On March 7, 2003, the Board approved NOx and PM emission reduction projects at the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) for an amount up to $2,000,000. CARB provided $1,000,000 to this program under the State Emissions Mitigation program and POLA provided matching funds of $1,000,000 through a Memorandum of Agreement with the AQMD. To date, $889,920 of POLA’s contribution is unused. On February 22, 2007, POLA requested that this remaining amount be used to co-fund a joint project along with the Port of Long Beach (POLB) to demonstrate a hybrid tugboat. Foss Maritime, the proponent for the hybrid tugboat pilot project, will provide $1,650,000 and POLB will provide $500,000 towards the project. CARB has approved this project. This action is to execute a joint AQMD-POLA-POLB contract with Foss Maritime to conduct this project. AQMD will fund Foss Maritime directly from the remaining $889,920. This action is also to extend a Memorandum of Agreement with POLA.
COMMITTEE:
Not Applicable
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
- Authorize the Chairman to execute a joint AQMD-POLA-POLB contract with Foss Maritime to conduct a hybrid tugboat demonstration project at a cost to the AQMD not to exceed $889,920 from the State Emissions Mitigation Program Fund.
- Authorize the Chairman to extend a Memorandum of Agreement with POLA for conducting joint AQMD-POLA projects at the Port.
Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer
Background
On June 4, 2002, AQMD received a $1,000,000 grant award from CARB to fund NOx and PM emissions reduction projects at POLA. As required by the program, POLA matched CARB’s contribution with an additional $1,000,000 through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the AQMD. As of this date, $889,920 of POLA’s contribution is unused. On February 22, 2007, POLA requested that this remaining amount be used to co-fund a joint project along with the Port of Long Beach (POLB) to demonstrate a Foss Maritime hybrid tugboat project. CARB has approved POLA’s request for funding of this project. The MOA expired on December 31, 2003.
Proposal
Staff proposes to execute a joint AQMD, POLA, POLB contract with Foss Maritime to demonstrate a hybrid tugboat project at a cost not to exceed $889,920 from the AQMD. As per POLA’s request, AQMD will fund Foss Maritime from the $889,920 remaining in the State Emissions Mitigation Program fund contributed by POLA. Staff also proposes to extend the above MOA with POLA.
Tugboats idle a significant amount of the total operating hours. This proposed project will demonstrate a cleaner marine vessel technology with reduced NOx, PM, and toxic emissions, and at the same time reduce fuel consumption and consequently reduce green house gas emissions. It is expected that fuel savings will be in the range of 20-30 percent, and both NOx and PM reductions will be approximately 40 percent. This tugboat has the potential for even further emission reductions by using shorepower for hotelling and recharging batteries. This technology has not been demonstrated in the South Coast Air Basin, and Foss Maritime is quite certain that this demonstration project will yield a successful hybrid tugboat that can be used at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The tugboat that will be used for this project has a 5,080 hp engine and can generate approximately 60 tons of pull. It is expected that the tugboat that will be used is a Dolphin class vessel.
The total project cost of approximately $3 Million will be funded using $889,920 of POLA’s contribution, and Foss Maritime and POLB will contribute $1,650,000 and $500,000, respectively.
Benefits to AQMD
The demonstration of the hybrid tugboat project will be beneficial to the AQMD, POLA, and POLB in developing cleaner marine vessel technologies. Cleaner marine vessel technologies can be used in AQMD programs and the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan to reduce NOx and PM emissions.
Resource Impacts
The total cost of $889,920 for the hybrid tugboat project will be funded from the State Emissions Mitigation Program Fund.