Abstract
An industry and university team is developing ocean thermal energy power plant designs to provide baseload, renewable electricity to commercial power grids and to Department of Defense base grids. This paper provides some general thoughts on OTEC commercialization challenges. A brief description of OTEC and a view of the market are provided. Based on two years of design efforts and market assessments, challenges in technology, economics, and risk are discussed. No technology barriers are evident at this time. OTEC can be affordable though much work remains to be done. Because OTEC has not been commercialized nor has been demonstrated by anything approaching megawatt scales, a megawatt scale pilot plant is necessary to validate performance and cost for subsequent availability of financing for commercial applications.