OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY PLC (OTEplc) and DCNS have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly develop and build Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), Sea Water District Cooling (SDC) and Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) systems in selected markets.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is a process that generates green, renewable, constant and secure electricity from ocean water with the ability to produce that energy at a large scope and scale in the future. Potable clean water can also be generated from the OTEC process, which can be used for sustainable food production and human consumption. Sea Water District Cooling replaces conventional air conditioning and cooling systems with a green renewable cold sea water based cooling system that dramatically reduces the energy consumption of conventional fossil fuel based cooling systems.
OTEplc is a UK based company that will serve as the developer that will build, own and operate OTEC and SDC Systems as well as procuring financing. DCNS will be the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contractor for the OTEC and SDC Systems that will be jointly pursued under this MOU.
The MOU establishes a Joint marketing Council that will select joint projects to be exclusively pursued. Technical and Marketing expertise will be shared on an exclusive basis for selected projects and unique capabilities, experience, and country specific history will be used in the selection of joint projects.
Two initial projects have been selected by both companies. The first project is for land based OTEC and SDC Systems for the US Virgin Islands (USVI). A second project is a floating OTEC system for Asia.
Both OTEplc and DCNS have ongoing projects and MOUs in a number of countries in the Caribbean for OTEC and SDC. The US Virgin Islands project will be a combined OTEC and SDC system producing electricity and clean water, cooling, and sustainable food production in the form of aquaculture and agriculture.
The second project is for large floating OTEC Systems for a major Asian country which was selected on the basis of ongoing interaction with local officials on the need for OTEC. Ongoing OTEC design studies show a very significant potential for the use of OTEC systems in this country to provide clean, renewable, secure energy in large quantities. Ongoing projects in other Asian areas provide a strong basis for expanding that established cooperation into the development of additional OTEC Systems.
OTEplc is a world leading company in the design of OTEC and SDC systems based on the decades of experience of its technical team. DCNS is a world-class industrial ocean systems integrator. Combined experience of both companies holds great promise for the future development of clean, renewable, secure energy and water on a large scale for many countries of the world.
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Press release, June 13, 2013; Image: DCNS