Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion



Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a process that can produce electricity by using the temperature difference between deep cold ocean water and warm tropical surface waters. OTEC plants pump large quantities of deep cold seawater and surface seawater to run a power cycle and produce electricity. OTEC is firm power (24/7), a clean energy source, environmentally sustainable and capable of providing massive levels of energy.

Recently, higher electricity costs, increased concerns for global warming, and a political commitment to energy security have made initial OTEC commercialization economically attractive in tropical island communities where a high percentage of electricity production is oil based. Even within the US, this island market is very large; globally it is many times larger. As OTEC technology matures, it should become economically attractive in the southeast US.




Makai has been pioneering OTEC research since working on the first net-power producing plant in 1979. Since that time, Makai has been a sub- or prime contractor for dozens of unique research and development contracts in OTEC. Most recently, Makai has been involved with Lockheed Martin and others pursuing the development of 100MW OTEC plants for island communities like Hawaii and Guam.

Makai has developed internationally recognized expertise in OTEC in the areas of commercial and pilot plant designs, overall technical and economic modeling, heat exchanger design and testing, cold water pipe design and deployment, environmental effects (hydro- and bio-plume modeling), and the power cable to shore.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wanna Know More with British Petroleum ( BP )

Image
BP plc   (formerly   The British Petroleum Company plc   and   BP Amoco plc ) is a British   multinational   oil   and   gas   company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the world's seven oil and gas " supermajors ", whose performance in 2012 made it the world's sixth-largest oil and gas company, the sixth-largest energy company by   market capitalization   and the   company with the world's 12th-largest revenue (turnover) .   It is a   vertically integrated   company operating in all areas of the oil and gas industry, including   exploration   and   production ,   refining ,   distribution and marketing ,   petrochemicals ,   power generation   and   trading . It also has   renewable energy   interests in   biofuels ,   wind power . and   solar technology . As of 31 December 2018, BP had operations in nearly 80 countries worldwide, produced around 3.7 million barrels per day (590,000 m 3 /d) of oil equivalent, and had total proved reser
Read more

Big Risk : Nuclear Power Plant

Image
Nuclear power plants are a type of power plant that use the process of nuclear fission in order to generate electricity. They do this by using nuclear reactors in combination with the Rankine cycle, where the heat generated by the reactor converts water into steam, which spins a turbine and a generator. Nuclear power provides the world with around 11% of its total electricity, with the largest producers being the United States and France. Aside from the source of heat, nuclear power plants are very similar to coal-fired power plants. However, they require different safety measures since the use of nuclear fuel has vastly different properties from coal or other fossil fuels. They get their thermal power from splitting the nuclei of atoms in their reactor core, with uranium being the dominant choice of fuel in the world today. Thorium also has potential use in nuclear power production, however it is not currently in use. Below is the basic operation of a boiling water power plant,
Read more

Keep in Touch with Biomass Power Plant

Image
PNG Biomass grows up to 10 million seedlings a year in nurseries in the Markham Valley in Papua New Guinea. They will generate 30 MW of electrical power by growing the seedlings into trees, processing the timber logs into woodchips, and burning them in a biomass power plant. Process The seedlings are planted over 16,000 hectares of plantations to grow for 5 to 8 years to mature into trees. While the trees grow they absorb from the atmosphere Carbon Dioxide through the process of photosynthesis. Mature trees are harvested, debarked, and loaded as tree logs onto trucks. Tree logs are then transported to a centrally located power plant site. Tree logs are processed on site into wood chips to fuel our biomass power plant. Wood chips are channelled into the combustion chamber through a conveyor system and burned to heat water in the boiler. The burning wood chips release stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, remaining ash is used as plantation fertiliser an
Read more