Feasibility Study on the Commercial Plant of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC-K50)

Abstract

Deep seawater can also be used in conjunction with solar or geothermal heat sources or the discharged water from an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power plant to satisfy small- and medium-sized distributed energy requirements. The Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute is undertaking the development of a 50 MW OTEC power plant. A unit facility and integrated system have been proposed to reduce the electricity generation cost as well as to enhance the generation efficiency. Ongoing research findings have been applied to previous studies in order to evaluate the economic feasibility of the 50 MW OTEC power plant. The proposed OTEC power plant will be sited in a tropical ocean, and it will make use of a Rankine cycle with R32 refrigerant mixture as the working fluid. The use of this mixture instead of the R22 mixture used in previous OTEC plants is expected to make the proposed plant more economically efficient by reducing the size and cost of the turbine, evaporator, condenser, and marine structures to 64–74% of that in the previous plants.an Research and Development Institute is undertaking the development of a 50 MW OTEC power plant. A unit facility and integrated system have been proposed to reduce the electricity generation cost as well as to enhance the generation efficiency. Ongoing research findings have been applied to previous studies in order to evaluate the economic feasibility of the 50 MW OTEC power plant. The proposed OTEC power plant will be sited in a tropical ocean, and it will make use of a Rankine cycle with R32 refrigerant mixture as the working fluid. The use of this mixture instead of the R22 mixture used in previous OTEC plants is expected to make the proposed plant more economically efficient by reducing the size and cost of the turbine, evaporator, condenser, and marine structures to 64–74% of that in the previous plants.