TIDAL POWER

TIDAL POWER PLANTS - INTRODUCTION

• The periodic rise and fall of the water level of sea which are carried by the
action of the sun and moon on water of the earth is called the 'tide'.
• Tidal energy can furnish a significant portion of all such energies which are
renewable in nature. The large scale up and down movement of sea water
represents an unlimited source of energy.

• If some part of this vast energy can be converted into electrical energy, it
would be an important source of hydropower.
• The main feature of the tidal cycle is the difference in water surface
elevations at the high tide and at the low tide.
• If this differential head could be utilized in operating a hydraulic turbine,
the tidal energy could be converted into electrical energy by means of an
attached generator.
 TIDAL POWER PLANT
• The periodic rise and fall of the water level of sea which are carried away by the
gravitational action of sun and moon is called tide.
• The energy generated by these tides is called tidal energy.
• To harness the tidal energy, the difference in water surface elevations at high tide
and low tide is utilized to operate a hydraulic turbine.

• A generator is attached to the turbine to generate electricity.

• The rising water or high tides are called floods and low tides are called ebbs.

• These tides can be used to produce electrical power which is known as tidal
power.
• They are mainly caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon & Sun
on the water of solid earth & Oceans. 70% of tides are produced by the
force due to moon. Moon is the major factor in the tide.

• Two tidal cycles occurs during a lunar day of 24Hrs 50 Minutes. They are
two high tides and two low tides. Time between high tides & Low tides at
any given location is a little over 6 Hrs.
• A High tide will be experienced at a point which is directly under the moon.
At the Same time, a diametrically opposite point on the earth‘s surface also
experience a high tide due to dynamic balancing. Hence the Full moon as
well as a No moon produce a high tide.
• The Rise & Fall of water level follows a Sinusoidal curve. Tides are
periodical phenomenon. No two tides are alike, since the relative positions
of sun & moon and their distances are continuously changing.

Tidal range and tidal cycle.

 Basic Principle of Tidal Power Plant
• A dam is constructed in such a way that a basin gets separated from the
sea and a difference in the water level is obtained between the basin and
sea.

• The constructed basin is filled during high tide and emptied during low tide
passing through sluices and turbine respectively.
• The Potential energy of the water stored in the basin is used to drive the
turbine which in turn generates electricity as it is directly coupled to an
alternator.
BASIC PRINCIPLE OF TIDAL POWER

• The gravitational attraction of moon and the sun on the water present on
the earth produces tides.
• The magnitude of attraction depends on the mass and its distance, which
is given by Newton’s law of gravitation.
• It states that “every object in the universe attracts the other object with a
force”
• The gravitational force of attraction between two bodies is directly
proportional to the product of their masses.
• The gravitational force of attraction between two bodies is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
• Though the moon has less mass compared to the sun, the moon has
greater effect of attraction than sun because the distance between the
moon and earth is very less.

• The gravitational force of the moon causes the oceans to bulge along an
axis pointing directly at the moon as shown in the figure.
• When the sun and the moon are in line, their gravitational attraction on the earth
combine and cause a spring tide. The spring tides are produced twice in a lunar month.
• When the sun and moon are at 90˚, their gravitational attraction each pulls water
in different directions and cause a neap tide.

Formation of spring tides.

Formation of neap tides.
Tidal Power:
• When a basin exists along the shores with high tides, the power in the tide
can be hydroelectrically utilized.
• This can be realized by having a long dam across the basin and locating
two sets of turbines underneath the dam. As the tide comes in water flows
into the basin one set of turbines. At low tide the water flows out of the
basin operating another set of turbines.
Components of Tidal Power Plants.
There are three main Components of a tidal Power plant.
• Dam or barrage.

• Sluice-ways from the basins to the sea and vice versa.

• Power house.
Fig: Schematic Layout of Tidal Power House
• The design cycle may also provide for pumping between the basin and the sea in
either direction.

• If reversible pump turbines are provided, the pumping operation can be taken
over at any time by the same machine.
• The modern tubular turbines are so versatile that they can be used either as
turbines or as pumps in either direction of flow.

• In addition, the tubular passages can also be used as sluice-ways by locking the
machine in to a standstill.
• As compared to conventional plants, this, however, imposes a great number of
operations in tidal power plants.
• Tides have a wave form, but differ from other waves because they are
caused by the interactions between the ocean, Sun and Moon.
– Crest of the wave form is high tide and trough(a narrow open container) is low
tide.
– The vertical difference between high tide and low tide is the tidal range.

– Tidal period is the time between consecutive high or low tides and varies
between 12 hrs 25 min to 24 hrs 50 min.
– There are three basic types of daily tides defined by their period and
regularity: Diurnal tides, Semidiurnal tides, and Mixed tides.
Note:

1. Over a month the daily tidal ranges vary systematically with the
cycle of the Moon.
2. Tidal range is also altered by the shape of a basin and sea floor
configuration.
• Following figure shows a tide gauging station:
• Tides result from gravitational attraction and centrifugal effect.

• Gravity varies directly with mass, but inversely with distance.

• Although much smaller, the Moon exerts twice the gravitational attraction
and tide-generating force as the Sun because the Moon is closer.
• Gravitational attraction pulls the ocean towards the Moon and Sun,
creating two gravitational tidal bulges in the ocean (high tides).
• Centrifugal effect is the push outward from the center of rotation.
Following figures show how the gravitational forces and centrifugal forces
create tides.
• Latitude of the tidal bulges is determined by the declination, the angle between
Earth‘s axis and the lunar and solar orbital plane.
• Spring tides occur when Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned in a straight line and
the tidal bulges display constructive interference, producing very high, high tides
and very low, low tides.
• Spring tides coincide with the new and full moon.
• Neap tides occur when the Earth, Moon and Sun are aligned forming a right
angle and tidal bulges displaying destructive interference, producing low high
tides and high low tides.
• Neap tides coincide with the first and last quarter moon.
• Earth on its axis and the Moon in its orbit both revolve eastward and these
causes the tides to occur 50 minutes later each day.
Tidal Power Stations:
• Classification and Operation of Tidal Power Plants Tidal power plants are
classified as follows:

1. Single basin arrangement

(i) Single ebb-cycle system.

(ii) Single tide-cycle system.

(iii) Double cycle system.
2. Double basin arrangement.
• Single basin arrangement :
• The general arrangement of a single basin system is shown above.
• Since only one basin interacts with the sea, power can be generated at regular
intervals.
• A dam separates basin and sea. The power house is installed inside the dam.
• During High Tide, i.e., when the sea level rises, the turbine valves are opened
and the sea water flows into the basin through the turbine generating power.
• The power is generated till the level of sea water and basin is equal.
• The water is allowed to pass into the basin, till the level reaches its maximum
position.
• During low tide, the level of basin is more than the level of seawater.

• After attaining sufficient head, the turbine valves are opened and water
flows from basin to sea through the turbine generating power.
• Tidal power plants normally use reversible water turbines, such that power
is generated in both the directions.
A Single basin arrangement system can be classified as:
1) Single-ebb system: Water is stored during High tide in the basin and power
is generated only during low tide.
2) Single-Tide system: Power is generated only during High tide and it fills the
basin. The water is drained out during low tide.

3) Double cycle system: Power is generated during both high tide and low
tide as explained above.
Single basin-One-way cycle

• This is the simplest form of tidal power plant. In this system, a basin is
allowed to get filled during flood tide and during the ebb tide.

• The water flows from the basin to the sea passing through the turbine and
generates power. The power is available for a short duration during ebb
tide .
• Fig1. Shows a single tide basin before the construction of dam and Fig.2
shows the diagrammatic representation of a dam at the mouth of the basin
and power generation during the falling tide.
Single-basin two-way cycle:
• In this arrangement power is generated both during flood tide as well as ebb tide
also.
• The power generation is also intermittent but generation period is increased
compared with one-way cycle.
• However the peak power obtained is less than the one-way cycle. The
arrangement of the basin and the power cycle is shown in Fig.3.
• The main difficulty with this arrangement, the same turbine must be used as
Prime mover as ebb and tide flows pass through the turbine in opposite
directions. Variable pitch turbine and dual rotation generator are used for such
schemes.
• Double Basin Tidal System: another form of energy barrage
configuration is that of the dual basin type.
• With two basins, one is filled at high tide and the other is emptied at low tide.
Turbines are placed between the basins.
• Two-basin schemes offer advantages over normal schemes in that generation
time can be adjusted with high flexibility and it is also possible to generate almost
continuously.
• In normal estuarine situations, however, two-basin schemes are very expensive
to construct due to the cost of the extra length of barrage. There are some
favourable geographies, however, which are well suited to this type of scheme.
DOUBLE BASIN ARRANGEMENT
• Figure above shows a schematic diagram of two-basin system.

• In the system, the two basins close to each other operate alternatively.

• One basin generates power when the tide is rising (basin getting filled up)
and the other basin generates power while the tide is falling (basin getting
emptied).
• The two basins may have a common power house or may have separate
power house for each basin.
• In both the cases, the power can be generated continuously.
Components of a Tidal Power Station:
Dam or Barrage:
• The function of dam to form a barrier between the sea and basin or between one
basin and the other in case of multiple basins.

• Dam and barrage are synonymous terms. The function of dam is to form a barrier
between the sea and the basin or between one basin and the other in case of
multiple basins.

• Tidal power barrages have to resist waves whose shock can be severe and
where pressure changes sides continuously. The barrage needs to provide
channels for the turbines in reinforced concrete.
– The location of the barrage is important, because the energy available is related
to the size of trapped basin and to the square of the tidal range.
• The nearer it is built to the mouth of bay, the larger the basin, but the
smaller the tidal range. A balance must also be struck between increased
output and increased material requirements and construction costs.

• Tidal barrages require sites where there is a sufficiently high tidal range to
give a good head of water – the minimum useful range is around three
meters.
Gates and Locks:
• The sluice ways are used either to fill the basin during the high tide or empty the
basin during the low tide, as per operational requirement.

• Gate structures can be floated as modular units. Though, in existing plants,

vertical lift gates have been used.
• The technology is about ready to substitute a series of flap gates. Flap gates are
gates operated by water pressure that are positioned so as to allow water in to
the holding basin and require no mechanical means of operation.
• The flap gates allow only in the direction of the sea to basin. Hence, the basin
level rises well above to sea level as ebb flow area is far less than flood flow area.
Power House:
• The turbines, electric generators and other auxiliary equipment’s are the main
components of a power house.

• For small head, large size turbines are needed; hence, the power house is also a
large structure.

• Both the French and Soviet operating plants use the bulb type of turbine of the
propeller type, with revisable blades, bulbs have horizontal shafts coupled to a
single generator.
POWER HOUSE:
• Large size turbines are needed to because of small head available. Hence
power house will also be large structure. The types of turbines used are,

(I) Bulb Type:

• In systems with a bulb turbine, water flows around the turbine, making
access for maintenance difficult, as the water must be prevented from
flowing past the turbine.
(ii) Rim Type:
• Rim turbines reduce these problems as the generator is mounted in the
barrage, at right angles to the turbine blades. Unfortunately, it is difficult to
regulate the performance of these turbines and it is unsuitable for use in
pumping.
(iii)Tubular Type:
• Tubular turbines have been proposed for use some UK projects. In this
configuration, the blades are connected to a long shaft and orientated at
an angle so that the generator is sitting on top of the barrage.
 Merits of tidal energy

1. It is inexhaustible.
2. It is free from pollution.
3. The site of the plant can be generally dam at bays and its
construction does not uproot the villages or disturb the ecology of
the place.
4. No submerging of land occurs while constructing basins.
5. Its operation is not adversely affected by variations of weather, such
as the failure of monsoon. Tide cycle is always definite.
6. Basins can also be used for fish farming.
 Limitations of Tidal Energy

1. It can be harnessed only if natural sites are available.

2. Its suitable sites are mostly bays which are far away from the
load centres. Therefore, the transmission cost of power is high.
3. Its operation is uneven as turbines have to work with varying
water heads. The power output is variable.
4. The construction period of a dam for basin is long. The basin and
plant construction is costly.
5. Sedimentation and silt deposition in the basin take place in
regular manner which is costly to be removed.
6. Power output varies with lunar cycle.
• Estimation of tidal power:

• Single basin system:

• We can write,
~ 𝑑𝑤 = 𝑑𝑚. 𝑔.h
~ 𝑑𝑚 = −𝜌𝐴 𝑑 h
~ 𝑑𝑤 = −𝜌𝐴 𝑑 h g h
Where,
• W= work done by water in joules
• g= gravitational constant
• m= mass flowing through the turbine, Kg
• h= head. m
• ρ= water density, Kg/m3
• A= basin surface area in m2.
• The total amount of work during a full emptying or filling is given by,

• The power is rate of doing work. The time taken for producing power once is
tidal period. Tidal wave has period equal to 6h,12.5 min i.e, 22350 seconds.
• Assuming an average water density as 1025Kg/m3, The average power
per unit basin area is given by,
Example Problem:
• A Tidal power plant of the simple single basin type has a basin area of 30X106 m2.
The tide has a range of 12m. The turbine however stops operating when the head
falls below three meters. Calculate the energy generated in one filling(or
emptying) process, in KW hours if the generator efficiency is 0.73.
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
• This is also as indirect source of Solar Energy.

• The tropical oceans absorb a large amount of solar energy. The surface of
ocean acts as collector of heat, while the temperature in the depths is
20-25ºc lower.
• This difference in temperature is used to obtain energy.
• The surface water, which is heated, is used to heat some low boiling
organic fluid such as ammonia, propane, R-12, R-22, etc.
• Then the vapour produced will run the heat engine.
• The exit vapour is condensed using cold ocean water of deeper regions.

• Several such plants were build in France with capacity upto7.5 MW.
• The OTEC works in Closed Rankine Cycle.
• In India the Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (DNES) has
proposed to set up a 1 MW OTEC plant in Lakshadweep Island.
 Ocean Power
What is OTEC?
• OTEC, or Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, is an energy technology
that converts solar radiation to electric power.
• OTEC systems use the ocean's natural thermal gradient—the fact that the
ocean's layers of water have different temperatures—to drive a
power-producing cycle.
• As long as the temperature between the warm surface water and the cold
deep water differs by about 20°C (36°F), an OTEC system can produce a
significant amount of power with a maximum “Carnot Efficiency” of about
6.7%.
Lambert’s Law:
• Solar Energy absorption by the water takes place according to Lambert‘s Law of
absorption, which states that each layer of equal thickness absorbs the same
fraction of light that passes through it.

• Where Io and I(x) are intensities of radiation at the surface(x=0) and at a distance
x below the surface. K is the extinction coefficient and it has the value 0.05m-1 for
very clear fresh water, 0.27 for turbid fresh water and 0.5m-1 for very salty water.
Consequences of Lambert’s Law:
• Intensity decreases exponentially with depth and depending upon K value almost
all the absorption takes place very close to the surface water. Maximum
temperature occur just below the top surface of water.

• Deep water remains cool.

• There will not be thermal convection currents between the warmer, lighter surface
water and cool heavier water at the depth.
• In the tropics, the ocean surface temperature often exceeds 250C while 1Km
below temperature is not higher than 100C.
• A heat engine can be made to work between these two temperatures and power
can be obtained.
 OTEC POWER PLANTS:

Open-Cycle (Claude Cycle):

• Open-cycle OTEC uses the tropical oceans' warm surface water to make
electricity. When warm seawater is placed in a low-pressure container, it boils.

• The expanding steam drives a low-pressure turbine attached to an electrical

generator.

• The steam, which has left its salt behind in the low pressure container, is almost
pure fresh water. It is condensed back into a liquid by exposure to cold
temperatures from deep-ocean water.
Fig: Open-Cycle (Claude Cycle):
Open cycle thermodynamic analysis:
• In this scheme, warm surface water at around 27°C (81°F) enters an
evaporator at pressure slightly below the saturation pressure causing it to
vaporize.
• This water undergoes volume boiling as opposed to pool boiling in
conventional boilers where the heating surface is in contact. Thus the
water partially flashes to steam with two-phase equilibrium prevailing.

• Suppose that the pressure inside the evaporator is maintained at the

saturation pressure, T2.
• The low pressure in the evaporator is maintained by a vacuum pump that
also removes the dissolved non-condensable gases from the evaporator.
• The evaporator now contains a mixture of water and steam of very low
vapour quality (steam content).
• The steam is separated from the water as saturated vapour.
• The remaining water is saturated and is discharged to the ocean in the
open cycle. The steam is a low pressure/high specific volume working
fluid. It expands in a special low pressure turbine,
• The condenser temperature and pressure are lower. Since the turbine exhaust is
to be discharged back into the ocean, a direct contact condenser is used to mix
the exhaust with cold water, which results in a near-saturated water. That water is
now discharged back to the ocean.
• Closed-Cycle (Rankine):
• The Natural Energy Laboratory along with several private-sector partners carried
out the mini OTEC experiment in 1979 which successfully achieved the
production of net electrical power at sea with the help of closed-cycle OTEC.

• In 1999, the Natural Energy Laboratory experimented with a 250-kW pilot OTEC
closed-cycle plant, which is the largest of its kind.
• Closed-cycle systems use fluid with a low-boiling point, such as ammonia,
to rotate a turbine to generate electricity. Here's how it works.
• Warm surface seawater is pumped through a heat exchanger where the
low-boiling-point fluid is vaporized.
• The expanding vapour turns the turbo-generator. Then, cold, deep
seawater—pumped through a second heat exchanger—condenses the
vapour back into a liquid, which is then recycled through the system.
Thermodynamic analysis:
• In this cycle, QH is the heat transferred in the evaporator from the warm
sea water to the working fluid. The working fluid exits the evaporator as a
gas near its dew point.
• The high-pressure, high-temperature gas then is expanded in the turbine
to yield turbine work, WT.
• The working fluid is slightly superheated at the turbine exit and the turbine
typically has an efficiency of 90% based on reversible, adiabatic
expansion.
• From the turbine exit, the working fluid enters the condenser where it rejects
heat, -QC, to the cold sea water.
• The condensate is then compressed to the highest pressure in the cycle,
requiring condensate pump work, WC.
• Thus, the Anderson closed cycle is a Rankine-type cycle similar to the
conventional power plant steam cycle except that in the Anderson cycle the
working fluid is never superheated more than a few degrees Celsius.
• Owing to viscous effects, working fluid pressure drops in both the evaporator and
the condenser. This pressure drop, which depends on the types of heat
exchangers used, must be considered in final design calculations but is ignored
here to simplify the analysis.
• Thus, the parasitic condensate pump work, WC, computed here will be
lower than if the heat exchanger pressure drop was included. The major
additional parasitic energy requirements in the OTEC plant are the cold
water pump work, WCT, and the warm water pump work, WHT. Denoting all
other parasitic energy requirements by WA, the net work from the OTEC
plant, WNP is,
• The thermodynamic cycle undergone by the working fluid can be analysed
without detailed consideration of the parasitic energy requirements. From
the first law of thermodynamics, the energy balance for the working fluid as
the system is, where WN = WT + WC, is the net work for the thermodynamic
cycle.
• For the idealized case in which there is no working fluid pressure drop in
the heat exchangers, and so that the net thermodynamic cycle work
becomes,
• Sub cooled liquid enters the evaporator. Due to the heat exchange with
warm sea water, evaporation takes place and usually superheated vapour
leaves the evaporator. This vapour drives the turbine and the 2-phase
mixture enters the condenser.
• Usually, the sub cooled liquid leaves the condenser and finally, this liquid is
pumped to the evaporator completing a cycle.
Hybrid System:
• Hybrid systems combine the features of both the closed-cycle and open
cycle systems. In a hybrid system, warm seawater enters a vacuum
chamber where it is flash-evaporated into steam, similar to the open cycle
evaporation process. The steam vaporizes a low-boiling-point fluid (in a
closed-cycle loop) that drives a turbine to produces electricity.
Fig: Hybrid System
Advantages:
Low Environmental Impact:
• The distinctive feature of OTEC energy systems is that the end products
include not only energy in the form of electricity, but several other
synergistic products.

Fresh Water:
• The first by-product is fresh water. A small 1 MW OTEC is capable of
producing some 4,500 cubic meters of fresh water per day, enough to
supply a population of 20,000 with fresh water.
Food:
• A further by-product is nutrient rich cold water from the deep ocean. The
cold "waste" water from the OTEC is utilised in two ways.
• Primarily the cold water is discharged into large contained ponds, near
shore or on land, where the water can be used for multi-species “Mari
culture” (shellfish and shrimp) producing harvest yields which far surpass
naturally occurring cold water upwelling zones, just like agriculture on land.
Minerals:
• OTEC may one day provide a means to mine ocean water for 57 trace
elements.
• Most economic analyses have suggested that mining the ocean for
dissolved substances would be unprofitable because so much energy is
required to pump the large volume of water needed and because of the
expense involved in separating the minerals from seawater. But with
• OTEC plants already pumping the water, the only remaining economic
challenge is to reduce the cost of the extraction process.
• OTEC systems produce fresh water and electricity as well, which is highly
beneficial for island regions where fresh water availability is limited.
• It makes use of renewable, clean, natural resources. Fossil fuels are
replaced by warm surface seawater and cold water from deep sea to
generate electricity.

• OTEC plants do not pollute the environment by releasing carbon dioxide

emissions or other polluting substances.
• It helps reduce the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Disadvantages of OTEC:
• Some of the major drawbacks of OTEC include the following:
• Construction of OTEC plants and pipes in ocean may cause damage to onshore
marine ecosystems and reefs.
• As this technology has been tested only in small-scale, it is not feasible for an
energy company to invest in this project.
• Electricity produced from OTEC would currently cost more than that produced
from fossil fuels.
• Discharging of cold and warm sea water needs to be carried out several metres
away from the shore to avoid any dwelling impact on marine ecosystems.
• Energy required to pump the sea water from depths may be huge, which
otherwise need a diesel generator.
• Problems associated with OTEC.
• OTEC process is not altogether a very clean process unless certain
precautions are taken, otherwise there may be pollution and relative
effects.
• Fortunately all these precautions can be easily taken and without spending
large amounts of money.

• For all this it is necessary first to be aware of the possible sources of

OTEC pollution and to avoid these, following are discussed briefly.
• Solid particles and non condensable gases.

• Re-injection.
• Land erosion.
• Noise.
• Water-borne poisons.

• Heat pollution.

• Silica.

• Subsidence.

• Seismicity.

• Escaping Steam.
Solid particles and non condensable gases.
• Steam and water from both hydrothermal system contain, besides the
dissolved solids in the water, entrained solids are removed, usually by
centrifugal separators at the well head.
• H2S(Hydrogen sulfide) is almost always present in OTEC field. This if
present in excess quantities may cause harmful effects on the bearings.
This also attacks electrical equipments and it may adverse effects on crops
and on river life.
• At power plants it occurs in high concentration at the gas ejector points. At
some places H2S are being trapped and the gas is being burned to form
SO2 , which is then scrubbed with cooling water tower.
Re-injection:
• It would avoid discharging large quantity of heat into rivers, with
consequent hazards to fisheries and would also avoid infecting rivers and
stream with toxic substances emitted from the bores which would
endanger down stream drinking water supplies.
Land Erosion:

• Close control, replanting of shrubs an trees, more careful site selection and
improved construction methods are helping to solve this problem.
Noise:
• Noise pollution is another problem. Exhausts, blow-downs and centrifugal
separation are some of the sources of noise that necessitate the
installation of silencers on some equipment.
Water-borne poisons:
• The water phase in wet fields sometimes contain toxic mercury, arsenic,
ammonia etc., which if discharged could contaminate water downstream.
Air-borne poisons:
• From various plants harmful substances may escape into the air thermal
sites. This may contain radioactive materials also.
Heat pollution.
• The necessary adoption of relatively low temperature for OTEC power
production results in low efficiencies and emission of huge quantities of waste
heat.
• Heat pollution in river water can damage fisheries and encourage growth of
unwanted water weeds.

Silica:
• Silica can be particularly troublesome with distinct heating systems.
• Re-injection of silicon loaded waters could flow up to the permeability level.
Subsidence:
• The withdrawal of huge quantities of underground fluids from a wet field
can cause substantial ground subsidence, which could cause fitting and
stressing of pipelines and surface structures.

Seismicity:
• Some fears have been expressed that prolonged OTEC exploitation
could trigger off earthquakes where fairly large temperature
differentiation occur.
Escaping Steam:
• Huge volumes of flash steam escaping into the air could cause dense fog
to occur, which may drift across in causing the pollution.
Current operating Plants of OTEC:
• In March 2013, Makai installed and operate a 100 kilowatt (which is
sufficient to power 120 homes in Hawaii) turbine on the OTEC Heat
Exchanger Test Facility, and connect OTEC power to the grid.
• Okinawa Prefecture announced the start of the OTEC operation testing at
Kume Island on April 15, 2013. The plant consists of two units; one
includes the 50 kW generator while the second unit is used for component
testing and optimization.
• In July 2014, DCNS group partnered with Akuo Energy announced their
NEMO project. If successful, the 16MW gross 10MW net offshore plant will
be the largest OTEC facility to date.
END