JAMM AQUINO / MAY 30, 2007
Guy Toyama is framed amidst the pipes and valves of the world’s first Mini OTEC, or Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion turbine, on the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii grounds in Keahole on the Big Island.
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Gov. David Ige said he is interested in the commercial use of ocean thermal energy conversion to help achieve the state’s 100 percent renewable-energy goal.
OTEC can be commercially feasible in Hawaii at the size of 1 megawatt, Ige said at a press conference Friday after returning from a trip to Japan. He said he is interested in looking for the site in Hawaii that would make the most sense for a commercial facility.
Ocean thermal energy conversion produces electricity from the ocean by using the temperature difference between deep cold and warm surface seawater. Unlike wind and solar, OTEC is a base-load electricity generation system.
No commercial OTEC plant is in operation anywhere in the world.
“We would be looking for federal partners for coming up with at least a portion of the cost,” Ige said. “It is really trying to put together that consortium to fund that 1-megawatt facility.”
Hawaii has experimented with OTEC since the 1970s at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, according to Hawaiian Electric Co.’s website.
Ige said he toured a facility in the Okinawa prefecture that is modeled after the NELHA facility on Hawaii island.
He said Okinawa and Hawaii are working together to find the best way to make OTEC commercially possible.
“Obviously, we both have an interest of determining the commercial viability of OTEC,” Ige said.
