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Ben Sullivan

Jimmy Barnett

OTEC Introduction
OTEC uses the oceans natural thermal gradient to

produce power and electricity through a vast and


renewable resource
Unlike wind and solar power, OTEC can provide
constant power all day everyday
Extremely beneficial to island communities or military
outposts that rely heavily on imported fuel

OTEC Facts
23 million square miles of

tropical seas absorb the solar


radiation in heat content
equivalent to 250 billion barrels
of oil everyday.
If .1% of this could be collected it
would supply more than 20
times the total amount of
electricity used in the US any
given day.

Requires enormous initial

investment upfront to build


large-scale plants
Only a few hundred sites in
the tropics where a landbased plant can be built
due to ideal temperatures
near shore.

Types of OTEC
Closed-Cycle
Boils a fluid with low
boiling point with warm
surface water
Fluid is vaporized,
expanding vapor turns a
turbine
Deep, cool ocean water
pumped to cool the
vapor and condense it
Vapor is liquidized then
recycled through the
system

Types of OTEC
Open-Cycle
Warm ocean water is
placed in a lowpressure container to
boil it
Expanding steam
turns turbine
attached to a turbine
Cold ocean water is
pumped up to cool
the steam and turn it
back into a liquid

Types of OTEC
Hybrid-Cycle
Combines both open
and closed cycles
Warm surface water
is turned into steam
That steam is used
to vaporize the fluid
to power the turbine

History

1881 - a French Physicist by the name of


Jacques Arsene proposed an idea about
tapping the ocean to create thermal
energy.
1930 - a student of Jacques by the name
of Georges Claude built an experimental
Open-cycle OTEC system at Matanzas Bay,
Cuba.
1935 - Claude constructed another Opencycle system, but this time it was aboard
a 10,000 ton cargo vessel off the coast of
Brazil.
1956 - French researchers designed a 3
Megawatt Open-cycle plant for Abidjan
on Africas west coast.
1974 - the natural energy Laboratory of
Hawaii was established.
1979 - the first 50-kilowatt Closed-cycle
OTEC demonstration plant went up at
NELHA.

History Continued
1980 - the U.S department of Energy (DOE)
built OTEC 1, a test site for closed- cycle
OTEC heat exchangers installed on board a
converted U.S. Navy tanker.
1981 - japan demonstrated a shore-based,
100-kWe closed- cycle plant in the Republic
of Nauru in the Pacific Ocean.
1984 - scientists at the Department Of
Energy developed a vertical-spout
evaporator to convert warm seawater into
low-pressure stream for open-cycle plants.
1993 - an Open-cycle OTEC plant at
keahole Point Hawaii produced 50,000
watts of electricity during a net powerproducing experiment.
1994 - the Uehara cycle was developed
with an efficiency of 5 to 6%
2002 - SEA solar developed a design for a
100MW plant-ship that they proposed to
the US Navy in 2004.

OTEC Environmental Impact


Nitrogen and phosphorus would likely be discharged at a depth where the
climate of the water is warmer and oligotrophic. The resulting impacts to

marine biolife and marine ecosystem from these displacements are not fully
understood. What we do know is that from to high of levels of phosphorus and
nitrogen, it could create algae, which will in turn pollute the ocean. Red algae is
dangerous, producing toxins that can kill marine organisms, taint shellfish,
cause skin irritations, and even foul the air.

Positive Effects
Direct
A clean and green source of renewable energy

Indirect
Air conditioning (spent cold seawater from a plant can chill fresh water in a heat

exchanger or flow directly into a cooling systems) (The Natural Energy Laboratory
has used it for several years)
Fresh water from closed and hybrid cycles (1000 liters of seawater creates 5 liters of
freshwater)
Chilled-soil agriculture (through underground pipes surrounding soil is cooled
helping plants survive where they normally cant) (The Natural Energy Laboratory
garden with over 100 fruits and vegetables that cant survive in Hawaii)
Unintended
Deep seawater that is sucked up is full of nutrients from organic matter that sunk
from the surface which can be used to help aquaculture farms (Hawaii, lobsters and
salmon healthier)

Negative Effects
Direct
Changing ocean temperatures (can be eliminated with appropriate spacing of plants)
Need for other forms of electricity will decrease causing loss of jobs and money

Indirect
Possible changes in the deep ocean environment from pumping and harvesting

nutrients
Unintended
OTEC could divert the course of storms (slightest changes in surface temperature can
steer a storm)
May help unwanted life to grow
Very costly upfront investment needed
Costly maintenance on the pipes and equipment

Future Predictions
Operations such as OTEC Plant in Hawaii, Mini

OTEC, and OTEC- 1 continue to be studied and


researched, as scientists must learn more about OTEC
before it can be made for commercial use. The
expenses of OTEC, including the transport of the
energy or fresh water it produces, as well as the
building and securing of OTEC sites, stop it from
becoming a likely alternative in the near future. Still,
through further research, it is very possible that
mankind may be looking at a greener earth, whether it
be decades, centuries, or millennia from now; one
which is powered by the sun and the ocean.

Our Predictions
By 2015 we predict

there will be a fully


functional OTEC
plant in Hawaii
By 2035 there will be
about 10 commercial
sized OTEC plants
near the equator
producing around 2%
of most developed
countries power.

OTEC
Experts in oceanic

energy say that the


technology exists to
provide a truly infinite
source of power through
OTEC, just a lack of
governmental support
and investment slows
OTEC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x59MptHscxY

Bibliography
History of OTEC, Offshore Infrastructure Association, Inc. 2010
<http://www.offinf.com/history.htm>
Ocean thermal energy conversion. 2010
<http://www.123eng.com/seminar/Ocean%20thermal%20energy%20conversion.pdf>
OTEC Overview, L.A. Vega, 1999 <http://www.otecnews.org/otec-articles/oceanthermal-energy-conversion-otec-by-l-a-vega-ph-d/>
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia
Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 01 Dec.
2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/424415/ocean-thermal-energyconversion>.
Ocean thermal energy conversion OTEC. Lockheed Martin, 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/OTEC/>
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Breath On The Wind, 23 Sep. 2011. Web. 28 Nov.
2011. <http://cleantechnica.com/2011/09/23/ocean-thermal-energy-conversion/>
The Potential Impact of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion on Fisheries. NOAA
Technical Report NMFS 40. June 1986. <http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/tr40opt.pdf>
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Energy Savers, 9 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.energysavers.gov/renewable_energy/ocean/index.cfm/mytopic=50010>

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