The Oil Drum: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

In 1870, in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne wrote: “I owe all to the ocean; it produces electricity, and electricity gives heat, light, motion, and, in a word, life to the Nautilus.”

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a technology that can extract useful work from solar energy stored in the sea. Since the sea IS the energy storage medium, OTEC offers ‘always on’ baseline supply — during bright clear days and dark nights, in still air and ferocious wind storms — without the expense and complications of artificial energy storage systems.
Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.