SLIDE 2

What is ote? 70% of the total area is surrounded by by sea water this water is getting
heat up by the sun due to that heating solar energy stored in that sea water at a moderate
temp say about 27oc this energy is known as ocean thermal energy

What is otec? This energy is concentrated only on the sea surface up to 1 km depth below
that the temp of water is about 10oc and this temp gradient utilized to run a turbine there
by produce use full energy

History- ocean thermal energy concept was first introduced by French scientist Jacques d
arsonval but. the first otec plant is developed by his student Claude in Cuba 1930 it
produce 22kw energy and in 1935 he developed another plant brazil but it not get
completed due to weather and waves second plant was made by French company at ivory
coast in 1950. In 1962 Anderson produce a new cycle to accomplished what Claude had
not.
It works due to the temp gradient developed in the sea
Due to that temp gradient ocean surface is become more hot compared to large depths
From this gradient working fluid become vaporize this vapor is fed to a prime mover and
it generates electricity and the working fluid is condensed in to vapour

The main working principle is second law of thermodynamics; it is require a temp

gradient to transfer work. due to solar radiation ocean water gets heated up naturally here
the top surface is act as a source and bottom surface is act as a sink and with the help of
that temp gradient energy is extracted and drives a turbine and that turbine converts the
energy into mechanical energy and then in to electrical energy to produce energy
conversion at least a temp gradient of 20 deg c is needed
Carnot efficiency of the plant is th minus tc divided by th
Where th is the surface temp and tc is the bottom temp of the sea
Average surface temp for water in the range of 24 to27
Deep water temp is about 4 to 6
If we keep the temp gradient as 20 and surface temp as 27 we get carnot efficiency as 7%
but the practically obtained efficiency is up to 2% if comparing the otes with diesel
engine we can see that the efficiency is too small for a otec plant the maximum surface
temp is obtained as 27 the efficiency depends on temp gradient so we select the places
where more temp gradient to situate the plant
The red region are the more temp gradient places so the otec plants more suited in
between latitude 20degS and 20deg N

THE OTEC PLANTS CLASSIFIED BASED ON cycles

1.open cycle
2 closed cycle
3 hybrid cycle
Open cycle
It is also known as Claude cycle here we use the working fluid as water
The boiling temp of water is function of pressure. HEre warm water is collected in a
vaccum champer at a low pressure about .34 psi due to that lw pressure water boils and
forms water wapour this water vapour is fed to a low pressure turbine and the turbine
drives the generator and produce electricity
The vapour is then cooled back to water by the cold water from depths if the water
vapour is cooled by a surface condenser the water obtained is does not contact with the
cold water and become distilled water this fresh water is use for drinking purpose and
irrigation purpose ……etc

Closed cycle

In closed cycle plant we use the working fluid as ammonia because of good transport
properties low coast easily available when this ammonia flows through a heat exchanger
(evaporator ) it will absorb heat from the hot water and get vaporize and then flows
through a turbine and thus the turbine rotates and electricity produced this vaporized
ammonia in then pass through a condenser which is cooled by a cold water from the deep
ocean and become liquid and recirculated to evaporator
here ammonia is recirculated back to the evaporator then it is called closed cycle
the figure shows the first closed cycle otec plant developed in Hawaii

Hybrid cycle

In hybrid cycle otec the features of open cycle and closed cycle are combines in this the
warm water enters in to the vacuum chamber at low pressure and the water get flash
vapourised as similar in that of open cycle this steam vapourises the ammonia in a closed
cycle this vapourised ammonia is drives the turbine there by produce electricity and the
steam is then condensed by a surface condenser and become desalinated water

Classification based on the location of plant

1 land based
2 shelf based
3 floating plants

Land based
It should have main three advantages
1 it does not required a sophisticated mooring bcoz they are located in shelter areas
Affected by storm and heavy sea
2 lengthy cables are not required
3 More maintenance is not required becoz it us situated on land it will not affect the
storms and does not get a chance to corrode
There by it reduces the coast of electricity produced from the plant
Shelf mounted plant

To have a closer access to cold water the otec plant is mounted in continental shelf unto a
100m depth

Floating plant

Floating otec is designed work in the off shore

Lengthy cables are required to transfer electricity
The main problem in the floating plant is that storm and heavy sea will destroy the
vertical cold water in take pipe this will produce problem in cold water in take

Otec development in India

The first otec plant is at kulasekharapattanam in Tamil nadu her it is built by a us based
company the project is not yet complete
And also a tem from it madras complete a preliminary study to develop a plant in
Lakshadweep

Benefits

1.It helps to produce fuel such hydrogen ammonia methanol

Hydrogen is produced from electrolysis
2.It will provide continuous base load electricity
3.It produced desalinated water drinking as well as in irrigation purposes
4.It will improve the on shore and near shore Mari cultural operations
5.It provides air conditioning for buildings
In it cold water uses as a chiller fluid in ac coils
Only 1 m3 s-1 of 7°C deep ocean water is required to produce 5800 tons (roughly
equivalent to 5,800 rooms) of air conditioning.

Draw backs

1. low thermal efficiency due low temp gradient

2. Very large size….
3. Huge capital coast….
4. It is capable of with standing ocean storms over its life time….
5. Corrosion by sea water….
6. Siting considerations….
7. Large intake pipes are required….

Conclusion
OTEC has tremendous potential to supply the world’s energy. This potential is
estimated to be about 1013 watts of base load power generation . However, OTEC
systems must overcome the significant hurdle of high initial capital costs for
construction and the perception of significant risk compared to conventional fossil
fuel plants. The OTEC becomes the main power source in the future