The Ocean, with its gigantic and immense form, is a place filled with incredible power and heat. Leading to a new and alternate way of generating electricity, one physicist proposed tapping the thermal energy of the ocean. Applying the different temperatures and depths of the ocean, a new and alternate way of generating electricity was made in a process call Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion provides much-needed power and increases a renewable and a clean energy generation.
The concept of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion has a long history of development that has advanced over the years. Although, there have been some periodic attempts this type of technology has, starting in the 1880s. Beginning in the year of 1881, Jaques Arsene d’Arsonval, who was a French physicist had an idea of creating energy from the different temperatures of the ocean. Influenced by the physicist, a student, Georges Claude, built the first OTEC plant in Cuba in 1930. This plant produced 22 kilowatts of electricity with a low-pressured turbine. Then, in 1956, three French scientists had created an incomplete 3-megawatt OTEC plant. Today, the United States is involved in OTEC research, trying to better the environment and economy.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC systems uses the natural temperatures of the ocean between the warm water and cold water, which differs by about 36°F. With the ocean’s natural thermal gradient, an OTEC system produces a significant amount of power. This makes the oceans a vast renewable resource that can create billions of watts of electric power that’s promising for tropical island communities that rely heavily on imported fuel like Hawaii.
With the different types of OTEC systems, including closed-cylce, open cycle, and hybrid, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion has endless ways of generating electricity. With use of fluid with a low-boiling point, the tropical oceans’ warm surface, and the warm sea water, the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is sought to be a great alternate way to make energy for many.
The OTEC process is also rich in nutrients from the cold, deep seawater used in the process. This results in the nutrients being used to culture marine organisms and plant life near the shores on land. Not only being able to generate energy, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is also beneficial to marine and plant life.
Hawaii currently relies on imported fossil fuel for about 94 percent of its primary energy—the balance is from renewable resources such as wind, solar and geothermal power. Hawaii is known for having one of the world’s leading laboratory/test facility for OTEC research, the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), located at Keahole Point, Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Almost all of the major U.S. OTEC experiments have taken place in Hawaii. Today, scientists are developing new, cost-effective, state-of-the-art turbines for open-cycle OTEC systems for the state, yet currently there is no facility in Hawaii producing electricity using OTEC technology, but only facilities in Hawaii that conduct research. Hawaii has also been partnering with other countries like Taiwan, to develop OTEC pilot plants in Hawaii. Because of partnerships like this, the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of Energy will be able to move the state away from its dependence on fossil fuels and toward a clean energy economy that is intended to be a model for other states and regions. The U.S. Department of Energy aims to have at least 70 percent of Hawaii's power come from clean energy within one generation—by year 2030
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion provides much-needed power and increases a renewable and a clean energy generation. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, uses the difference in temperature between the warm and cold depths of the ocean. This process continues to spread in different places in the world that started by the idea of Jaques Arsene d’Arsonval. While the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority remains one of the world’s leading test facilities for Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, OTEC continues to generate electricity from the power of the ocean that not only provides energy, but also gives nutrients that cultures marine and plant life. Hawaii continues to conduct research in this type of technology. With partnerships from countries such as Taiwan and experiments, this technology moves toward a clean energy economy. In the words of Governor Linda Lingle, “Hawaii is the world's most isolated archipelago and is also the most oil-dependent state in America, a clean energy future for Hawaii isn't simply a desire – it's a necessity.”
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