PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF OCEAN

THERMAL ENERGY CONSERVATION SYSTEM

1. INTRODUCATION.
1.1 RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDIA
Indias population of more than 1.252 billion [1] is growing at
annual rate of 1.45% as fossil fuel energy become scarcer,
India will face energy shortages significantly due to increase
in prices of energy and energy insecurity within next few
decades. Increased use of fossil fuels also causes
environmental problems on both locally and globally. The
economy of India, measured in USD exchange rate terms is
the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of around $1.820
trillion .There is a very high demand of energy, which is
currently satisfied mainly by coal foreign oils and petroleum,
which apart from being a non-renewable, and therefore no
permanent solution to energy crises, it is also detrimental to
the environment. Thus it is compulsory that India obtains
energy security without affecting the booming economy,
which would mean that the country must switch from non-
renewable energy (crude oil, coal, and petroleum) to
renewable energy.
Much of the debate on and investment in technological
solutions to climate change has so far centered on a range of
technology such as carbon capture and storage (ccs) or geo-
confiscation, ocean fertilization, the so called new generation
of nuclear technologies and biofuels. Most of these
technologies, however, have been associated with the some
type of environmental problems. It is still not completely clear
if ccs is viable, or whether it can represent a long term
solution. The environmental impacts of large scale biofuels
have been called into question by number of authors [3].
With the regard to nuclear energy, independent of its
potential and benefits that it may have, the term
contamination, suffering and world-wide emotional response
the Fukushima nuclear reactor has caused makes it unlikely
that democratic countries will have an easy time building new
installations of this type.
However, it is compulsory that the new ways of
producing energy are found to satisfy the world s growing
appetite for energy. The year of 2008 saw the introduction of
the first generation of the first generation of commercial
ocean energy devise, with the first units being installed in
the UK and Portugal (sea gen and the pelamis respectively).
With them there are currently three types of energy
mechanisms in sea field from which energy is generated in a
commercial way (i.e. Tides, waves and ocean thermal).These
set of technologies are not only clean but they have an
almost negligible visual impact, especially compared to the
other renewable sources such as hydro energy.
 1.2 OCEAN ENERGY
The ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal
energy from the sun's heat, and mechanical energy from the
tides and waves.
Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth's surface, making
them the world's largest solar collectors. The sun's heat
warms the surface water a lot more than the deep ocean
water, and this temperature difference creates thermal
energy. Just a small portion of the heat trapped in the ocean
could power the world.
Ocean thermal energy is used for many applications,
including electricity generation. There are three types of
electricity conversion systems: closed-cycle, open-
cycle, and hybrid. Closed-cycle systems use the ocean's
warm surface water to vaporize a working fluid, which has a
low-boiling point, such as ammonia. The vapor expands and
turns a turbine. The turbine then activates a generator to
produce electricity. Open-cycle systems actually boil the
seawater by operating at low pressures. This produces
steam that passes through a turbine/generator. And hybrid
systems combine both closed-cycle and open-cycle systems.

1.3 OCEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGY TYPES

Four types of ocean energy conversion system
1 WAVE ENERGY
2 TIDAL ENERGY (TIDAL POWER)
3 OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC)
4 CURRENT ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
1.3.1 WAVE ENERGY
The energy from ocean waves is the most conspicuous form of
ocean energy, possibly because of the, often spectacular, wave
destructive effects. The waves are produced by wind action and
are therefore an indirect form of solar energy. Ocean wave
energy is captured directly from surface waves or from pressure
fluctuations below the surface.
Waves are caused by the wind blowing over the surface of the
ocean. In many areas of the world, the wind blows with
enough consistency and force to provide continuous waves
along the shoreline. Ocean waves contain tremendous energy
potential. Wave power devices extract energy from the
surface motion of ocean waves or from pressure fluctuations
below the surface.
Wave energy is produced when electricity generators are
placed on the surface of the ocean. The energy provided is
most often used in desalination plants, power plants and
water pumps. Energy output is determined by wave height,
wave speed, wavelength, and water density. To date there
are only a handful of experimental wave generator plants in
operation around the world. The articles on this page explore
the world of wave energy and its possible applications.
 1.3.2 TIDAL ENERGY (TIDAL POWER)
The tidal cycle occurs every 12 hours due to the gravitational force
of the moon. The difference in water height from low tide and high
tide and high tide is found potential energy.
Tidal power or tidal energy is a form of hydropower that converts
the energy obtained from tides into useful forms of power, mainly
electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has potential
for future electricity generation. Tide sare more predictable than the
wind and the sun.
Like other hydroelectricity, tidal power produces no pollution and is
a renewable energy source, because tides are caused by events that
happen in the solar system and so will not run out. The root source of
the energy is the rotation of the Earth. Tidal power has great potential
for future power and electricity generation because of the essentially
inexhaustible amount of energy contained in these rotational
systems. Tidal power is reliably predictable (unlike wind power
and solar power). In Europe, tide mills have been used for nearly
1,000 years, mainly for grinding grains. Modern tide mills provide tidal
stream power.
There are two type of tidal barrages: single-basin system and double-
basin system which their main difference relies on the number of
basins.