An ocean thermal energy conversion power plant has gone operational; it was celebrated at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority earlier this month. The governor of Hawaii, David Ige, "flipped the switch" to activate the plant.
This is the first true closed-cycle ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant to be connected to a U.S. electrical grid, said Big Island Video News.com.
A number of reporters for sites such as Renewable Energy Magazine and Popular Science were regarding the new plant as a significant marker in ocean energy efforts. This is a "demo" plant connected to the grid, capable of generating enough electricity to power 120 homes a year. (It's 105 kilowatts, enough to power about 120 homes.)
Big Island Now said kilowatts of sustainable, continuous electricity will be generated by the-site plant. While 120 homes is not a large number, the plant is considered significant as a test bed to commercialize ocean thermal energy conversion technology and to bolster innovation.
The process involves power derived from ocean temperature differences, as Mary Beth Griggs in Popular Sciencesaid, "between the warm, shallow seawater lapping up against a beach and the icy depths of the ocean." Griggs said the plant, built by Makai Ocean Engineering and situated at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), expects to generate enough energy to power 120 homes per year and is the largest plant of its kind in the world.
The company described OTEC as 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."
Anna Hirtenstein in Bloomberg reported that the project cost about $5 million to build and said that this is the world's largest plant to date utilizing the evolving renewable source.
The state of Hawaii hopes to be wholly powered by renewables by 2045, said Bloomberg.
