Abstract
A mission of the Department of Energy (DOE) is to develop inexhaustible and renewable sources of substantial quantities of baseload electricity and to develop renewable sources of energy for products that are energy intensive. Through its Division of Ocean Energy Systems, Office of Solar Power Applications, DOE is developing technology for economically competitive, operationally safe, and environmentally acceptable solar electric systems. The solar technology program of DOE includes ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). OTEC uses the difference in temperature in the ocean between the surface and at depth to run a heat cycle that vaporizes and condenses a working fluid such as anhydrous ammonia.
The OTEC-1 test facility was the initial step toward full-scale in-ocean deployment of OTEC equipment and components. The primary objectives of the OTEC-1 project were to:
1) Assess developing heat exchanger technology. Secondary objectives were to provide power system performance data and to evaluate biofouling countermeasures
2) Assess the effect of OTEC-1 on the environment and effect of the environment on the operation of OTEC-1
3) Provide input to the OTEC pilot plant project and OTEC program.
Additional secondary objectives were to provide ocean engineering baseline data on hull, stationkeeping, and cold water pipe (CWP) configuration and to provide information on the effect of the OTEC-1 test facility and power system operation on the ambient ocean environment to assist in the development of environmental guidelines.