Environmental Considerations for Siting an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Early Ocean Testing Platform at Four Proposed Areas

This presentation summarizes the environmental considerations for siting OTEC-1, the Early Ocean Testing Platform. As you may know, the concept of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is not new to the alternative energy source arena, d´Arsonval first proposed the use of the thermal gradient between warm surface and deep cold ocean waters in the late nineteenth century. In the 1950´s, the French government considered OTEC, but, after developing some equipment, abandoned the program prior to testing. With the oil embargo in the early 1970´s and the resulting oil price increases, the United States Federal Government, in 1975, established the Energy Research and Development Administration to conduct energy-related research. Presently there are several solar research projects under evaluation, one of which is OTEC, and the Early Ocean Testing Platform for a prototype evaluation has a projected test date in early 1980. The ultimate use of OTEC may be to provide commercial electricity generation in place of the use of fossil or nuclear fuels, or to create floating plant-ship operations for industrial production of aluminum or fertilizers. As a result of the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, all government-funded activities must consider potential environmental consequences of activities and prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). If significant impacts may occur, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) must be prepared bringing environmental considerations into the decision-making process, The considerations in assessing impact for OTEC-1 first require a detailed description of the physical system design. Included in the design description are the depth of intake and discharge pipes, volumes discharged, and applicable safety regulations and procedures. The detailed site descriptive information including the biological, chemical, physical oceanographic, and meteorological data must be gathered from all available sources. Partic- - ular study areas include the effects of metallic element discharge, ocean water thermal mixing and discharge, effects of impingement and entrainment, biocide effectiveness and toxicity to nontarget biota, working fluid release effects, and worker safety. Also, the international, Federal, state, and local legal implications of siting must be considered. When all relevant data is at hand the predictive process for assessing environmental impact is underway.