Page 42 - IB November 2023

Renewable Energy Renewable Energy

OTEC: CHALLENGING THE

STATUS QUO

By Kite Pareti good location, and we’ll conduct a more detailed study in the
next phase,” he said.
The proponents of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion So, how does the technology work? OTEC uses the
(OTEC) are hoping that the technology will finally get a temperature differences in surface seawater and deep ocean
foothold in the Pacific, following their recent mission to Fiji. water to run a heat energy cycle in a closed-looped system
A Regional Energy and Transport Ministers’ meeting in that generates carbon-free electricity.
Vanuatu in May this year committed to developing an ocean “Warm water at 28 degrees centigrade can boil a working
readiness programme to prepare their countries for future fluid. It transfers heat to another fluid which at 28 degrees
ocean renewable energy technologies. centigrade is a gas. So that runs a turbine. And then with cold
The concept of ocean energy has been around for decades. deep water, it is used to condense that vapour back into a
In 1981, a land-based OTEC plant was tested in Nauru, but it liquid. It’s quite unique as a base-load power technology that
was destroyed by a tropical storm. can run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” said Grech.
Then in 2019, a South Korean-led OTEC project in South He continues: “[And] what’s interesting about these pilot
Tarawa, Kiribati was piloted, but performed more poorly than facilities is they are not just demonstrating that they can
expected. produce electricity.
Now a UK-based That deep ocean
company is hoping water is being
to introduce used for local
weather-resistant businesses. They
OTEC structures in say in Japan, it’s
the region. adding US$26
Global OTEC million to the
Founder and Chief local GDP. People
Executive Officer, are using that
Dan Grech, and water to make
his team from algae bioreactors,
London met they’re producing
potential partners pharmaceuticals,
during a recent they’re growing
visit to Fiji, “to crops because of
understand how the properties of
OTEC would fit the ocean water
within Fiji’s policy and the nutrients
frameworks, what Engineer Jeke Pai, Dan Grech, Permanent Secretary Taitusi Vakadravuyaca and Andreas Koall. that are really
challenges might useful.
be for integration technology and how we can set up the pilot “When you start to show the scalability of OTEC across
project for success.” the tropical region, there are a lot of oil and gas companies
“Fiji wants to have a pilot project [in OTEC], and we are looking to diversify [their services],” said Grech. “If they’ve
here as technical experts to facilitate that,” he told Islands got deep water offshore experience, and they don’t want to
Business. jump on the wind, hydrogen or carbon capture verticals that
While Global OTEC does not have Pacific Islands experience, nearly all of them are going into, this is a great niche for
it knows the Caribbean context quite well, Grech says. them to work in”.
He notes that Hawaii and Japan are the epicentres of OTEC While the technology seems promising, it has been met with
development in the Pacific region and says Global OTEC is other challenges, particularly policy and finance barriers.
“building on that with our systems as well. We’re utilising “I get the feeling that there’s an openness to public-private
what’s already been proven. partnerships in this region where just by accessing those
“I think what will happen in Fiji will be very similar to the finances that wouldn’t otherwise be available for business-
Japanese or Hawaiian pilot facilities of very similar scale. as-usual projects, allows us to see the unit cost of energy
That involves shipping containers, somewhere on the coast, around half to what the diesel prices are in these islands.
that we will agree with the Department of Environment for a That applies less to Fiji because there’s such a hydropower

42 Islands Business, November 2023