Ocean thermal energy conversion

From dKosopedia

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, (OTEC) is a method of producing electricity by using the temperature diffences of the warmer surface water and the colder water of the depths to run turbines via pressure gradients. A temperature difference of 20°C (36°F) is needed to produce a significant amount of power.

In 1974 the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA, formerly NELH), at Keahole Point on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii, was established. It has become the world's foremost laboratory and test facility for OTEC technologies.

In 1979, the first 50-kilowatt (electric) (kWe) closed-cycle OTEC demonstration plant went up at [Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority|NELHA]. Known as "Mini-OTEC," the plant was mounted on a converted U.S. Navy barge moored approximately 2 kilometers off Keahole Point. The plant used a cold-water pipe to produce 52 kWe of gross power and 15 kWe net power.

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In May 1993, an open-cycle OTEC plant at Keahole Point, Hawaii, produced 50,000 watts of electricity during a net power-producing experiment. This broke the record of 40,000 watts set by a Japanese system in 1982. [1]

In June 2006, according to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article by Rod Thompson, two OTEC plants were announced:

Ocean Engineering & Energy Systems, a private engineering company with offices in Honolulu, will build the world's two largest power plants making electricity from sea-water heat, the company announced yesterday.

Both power plants will use ocean thermal energy conversion, an energy source on which experimentation began in the 1970s but which was dropped in the 1990s because it was too costly compared with cheap oil.

"It was not pursued simply for economic reasons," said Hans Krock, company president.

Since the 1970s the price of oil has gone from $12 to $70 a barrel.

During a signing of energy bills by Gov. Linda Lingle in Hilo yesterday, a 1-megawatt power plant at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority in Kona was announced by energy lab Administrator Ron Baird.

Company Vice President Stephen Oney also announced a 13-megawatt plant to be built at an undisclosed ocean location for U.S. military forces.

"Most of the energy in the world is solar energy stored in the ocean," Krock said. "In 50 years the majority of the energy in the world will be from this source. It's the only one big enough to replace oil."

The [Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority|Natural Energy Laboratory], next to Keahole Airport in Kona, was established in 1974 in response to the energy crisis that year.

Although it has branched out to several other activities such as growing algae for nutrients, the original purpose was to develop ocean thermal energy. [2]