The Blue Revolution – ocean of energy in ‘Ocean’ (A review)

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a renewable energy technology that is applicable to most parts of the world’s deep oceans between 20⁰ North and 20⁰ South latitude including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the Arabian Sea, where the temperature difference between the warm surface ocean water and the cold deep ocean water is equal or greater than 20⁰C. In essence, OTEC basically recovers part of the solar energy absorbed by the ocean. Its main application is in tropical zones where deep ocean water is available at short distance from the shore (less than 6 miles or 10 km). In addition, the potential site must have a marine environment that allows the operation of a stable system.

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    The Blue Revolution – ocean of energy in ‘Ocean’ (A review)
    (2013-10-01T04:44:25Z) MESTRY, DIPTI
    India is blessed with a well-established maritime tradition has long coastline. In our tropical oceans, within about 25 degrees north and south latitudes, a temperature difference of about 20¼ ⁰C exists between the waters at the surface of the ocean and at a depth of 1,000 m or so. The process of harnessing the energy due to this temperature difference is called Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). OTEC is an untapped, non-polluting, renewable energy source, which is appropriate for an energy starved nation like India. This method is capital intensive but the unit cost comes down drastically with higher rating plant and improvement in technology. This paper describes an outlook and a trend of the new OTEC technologies spreading rapidly now in the world.