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Future | Energy Sources |
Ocean Energy
Sea Water Air Conditioning
OceanThermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
Ocean Energy Development Guidelines. In 2007, the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum and Hawaiian Electric Company convened a series of meetings that included a large number of individuals and representatives of organizations with a stake in the future of the ocean. Together the unusual mix of government, private sector and environmental leaders came up with Ocean Energy Development Guidelines designed to assist and steer possible renewable ocean energy developers through the community and regulatory hurdles that may face such developers. Some representatives also volunteered to be “champions” for appropriate ocean energy developments.
Wave Energy on Maui
In February 2008, Oceanlinx Ltd., an Australia-based international high-tech company, announced plans to provide electricity to Maui Electric Company from Hawaii’s first wave energy project.
The plan is to provide up to 500 kilowatts from a stationary platform located 1000-2000 feet off shore from Kuiaha Bay on the northeast coast of Maui.
Oceanlinx offers a unique, commercially efficient wave-to-electricity system, combining the established science of the oscillating water column with the company’s own patented turbine technology.
Rising and falling sea swells push and pull air past the turbine; its blades shift in response to the direction of the air flow, enabling the turbine to turn continuously in one direction. Electricity is then brought ashore through an undersea cable to a substation tied to the island electrical grid.
In Oceanlinx, Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric have found an excellent wave energy technology that appears to make sense for Hawaii and many other places as well.
The project now plans to be operational by mid-2014. Oceanlinx will prepare an environmental impact statement for the project and apply for necessary permits and approvals.
Maui Electric Company is negotiating a purchase power agreement with Oceanlinx, which is subject to approval by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
More information on Oceanlinx (previously Energetech Australia Pty. Ltd. founded in 1997) is available on-line at www.oceanlinx.com.
Wave Energy on Oahu
Because Hawaii has among the most powerful waves per square meter in the world, the Office of Naval Research is monitoring an experimental wave energy buoy off Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. Hawaiian Electric has assisted with the transmission connection design to the electric grid.
In February 2010, Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPT) deployed the newly designed PowerBuoys® at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) at Kaneohe Bay.
The Oahu PowerBuoy was launched under OPT’s ongoing program with the U.S. Navy for ocean testing and demonstration of PowerBuoys. This PowerBuoy is unique in that it incorporate s recent advanced design features into OPT’s proprietary PowerBuoy platform for improved efficiency.
The PowerBuoy deployment site is located approximately three-quarters of a mile off the coast in 100 feet of water. Compact and modular in design, it is based on OPT's proprietary design which is primarily below the sea surface when deployed, with minimal visual impact. Deployment of the PowerBuoy was supported by Hawaiian diver and workboat subcontractors.
This program reflects the Navy’s long-term commitment to renewable energy and reducing its dependence on fuel oil shipments. Many of its naval bases around the world are suitable for OPT’s wave power stations.
More about Wave Energy
Back to TopSea Water Air Conditioning
In January 2010, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle presented one of the Innovation Awards for 2009 to Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning. The Governor’s Innovation Awards recognize individuals, companies, nonprofits, organizations and government agencies that are developing innovative products, services and processes. Nominees are evaluated by a 15-member panel of industry, education and government representatives statewide.
Air conditioning is among the largest uses of electricity in many Hawaii homes and businesses. For example, it is estimated that over one third of the electricity consumed in Waikiki is for air conditioning*.
A sea water air conditioning (SWAC) system (also called district cooling) can be a cost-effective use of a renewable energy source to offset the conventional air conditioning that consumes four to 12 times more electricity.
With SWAC, cold sea water is pumped from hundreds of feet below the surface to a cooling station on shore. This station transfers the salt water’s coldness to fresh water circulating in a closed loop that carries it to customer buildings. The cooling station ensures that sea water and fresh water never mix. Warmed sea water is returned to the ocean through another pipe and diffuser located at a shallower depth. Among the benefits of the system are less use of potable water and that toxic chemicals are no longer need in air conditioning systems. Those chemicals no longer need to be disposed of through the municipal sewage system.
This system is a proven technology already in use at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island. The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu (Kakaako) uses cold well-water to reduce its air conditioning costs.
Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning would extend pipes nearly 5 miles offshore to draw 45-degree water from 1,800 feet deep off the Kakaako coast. The environmental impact study for the project was recently approved and the $200- million system is expected to come online in the first half of 2012.
Buildings using the system would save up to 75 percent of the electricity they currently use on air conditioning. Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning plans to cover downtown buildings including the 30-story First Hawaiian Center, the tallest building in Hawaii, the federal courthouse, state government offices and the four-story headquarters of Hawaiian Electric Company.
If is successful in downtown, it could later be extended to tourist-filled Waikiki hotels and even the University of Hawaii
campus in Manoa.
Hawaii-based Makai Ocean Engineering is an acknowledged world leader in the underwater pipelines that are an essential part of sea water air conditioning.
More on Sea Water Air Conditioning:
*From Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC
Back to Top
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) leverages temperature differences between warm surface water and cold deep water to generate electricity. OTEC must have a temperature difference of at least 25 degrees Celsius to operate, limiting use to tropical regions. Hawaii has experimented with OTEC since the 1970s at the Natural Energy Laboratory Authority of Hawaii (NELHA) on the Big Island.In October 2008, Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin was awarded a cooperative agreement contract with a maximum value of $1.2 million by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate innovative technologies to enable oceanthermal energy power generation. Lockheed Martin is a $42-billion firm engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and operation of advanced technology systems, products and services.
Though there are several OTEC technologies, Lockheed Martin is progressing with a system in which warm surface sea water passes through a heat exchanger, vaporizing a low boiling point working fluid to drive a turbine generator, producing electricity.
This process can serve as a baseload power generation system that produces a significant amount of renewable, non-polluting power, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Additionally, OTEC power can produce energy carriers such as hydrogen and ammonia, which can be shipped to areas far from OTEC resources. The system can also include fresh-water production by flash evaporating the warm sea water and condensing the subsequent water vapor using cold sea water.
Lockheed Martin's experience with OTEC technology dates back 30 years. In 1974 the company, teamed with Bechtel Corp. and T.Y. Lin International, conducted a nine-month study on the practicality of generating electrical power at competitive prices from the solar energy naturally stored in the ocean's thermal gradient. The company followed that National Science Foundation-sponsored research with a self-funded four-month demonstration called Mini-OTEC, with support from the U.S. Navy, Makai Ocean Engineering, Dillingham Construction, and other firms. The Mini-OTEC plant was highly successful and remains the only floating, net-power producing OTEC plant ever built. Mini-OTEC was operated by the Lockheed Martin team for four months off Hawaii's main island to gather technical data on the operation of the system, as well as to prove the feasibility of clean electricity production using ocean temperature differences in an environmentally benign way.
Lockheed Martin is currently working with Makai Ocean Engineering in Honolulu, and other companies and universities with expertise in the technologies crucial to the success of oceanthermal energy commercialization.
More about OTEC
Lockheed Martin Renewable Energy Programs brochure
Lockheed Martin OTEC Program brochure
Deep Pipelines for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
