Thermal Energy Project To Be Launched Off Oahu

By OTTO KREISHER, Special Correspondent

Lockheed Martin, working under a contract funded primarily by the Navy, is preparing to deploy off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, a pilot model of a system that has the potential of producing 30 percent of the world’s electrical energy needs with no air pollution and none of the power fluctuation of solar and wind, a Lockheed official said May 3.

The system also could produce potable water from the sea, making it a doubly valuable tool for the military in isolated locations, or for developing nations, Ted Johnson, a Lockheed business development executive said in a briefing at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition.

The pilot program, expected to be installed in the 2013-14 timeframe, would produce five megawatts of electrical power for Navy facilities at Pearl Harbor and Barbers Point. The system, called Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), works off of the massive amounts of heat stored in the oceans, primarily in a wide band along the equator. Because the water temperature varies only slightly during the day, it is a much more stable source of power than wind or sun, Johnson noted.

Lockheed’s OTEC system consists of a floating platform, similar to an off-shore oil rig, a large composite pipe that draws cold water from 3,000 feet deep, and a heat exchanger powered by the warm water near the surface, which produces steam to drive a generator. It uses no fossil fuels and emits no carbon dioxide, Johnson emphasized. Lockheed tapped the talents of its various departments, including space science, to develop OTEC.

The pilot project was set for Hawaii because the island gets 80 percent of its electrical power from fossil fuels, all of which must be imported, he said.

Lockheed has been working on the OTEC concept since 1974, but the program has gained greater financial support because of the growing concerns over global warming and declining supplies of oil.

The Hawaii project can be scaled up to 10 megawatts, but commercial plants could produce up to 400 megawatts, while also supplying fresh water, Johnson said.