FAQs

General

Do Energy Islands work in all seas?

Closed –Cycle OTEC systems (those that don’t produce desalinated water) can work in shallow waters, but an Open-Cycle system needs to draw cool water from a depth of 1km.

In both cases, the surface temperature needs to be approximately 25°C or more, which restricts the use of Energy Islands and OTEC to tropical and sub-tropical waters around the equatorial belt.

History

OTEC, the technology upon which Energy Island revolves, is not a brand-new technology. How come it has not yet come into the mainstream?

OTEC was attempted in the 1930s, but was unsuccessful due insufficient technical ability and knowledge.

During the OPEC Crisis in the 1970s, the technology received $200m in funding from the American government, but was subsequently pulled when the price of oil dropped. Oil was cheap and therefore Renewables received little attention.

With the volatility of oil prices, the need for energy security and the realities of water scarcity and climate change now having become established constants, nations are looking to transition into Renewables.

The 21st century has brought with it a technical competence that simply did not formerly exist, in the case of OTEC, for the challenges of sea-based structures.

Energy Island Group is confident that it has the expertise to commercialise OTEC on a large scale and finally bring it into the mainstream.

Environment

What is the environmental impact of an Energy Island?

In drawing water up, Energy Islands are able to filter out the larger species of underwater life. Phytoplankton will however inevitably be drawn up. This high-quality Phytoplankton can of course be used for Aquaculture (fish-farming).

The water that is drawn up to condense the steam is cool. Once used it is released back into the surrounding water, below the particularly warm layer called a Thermocline. This would have a cooling effect on the waters into which it is released.

Going forward, both the net impacts on flora and fauna of both drawing phytoplankton up from the depths and of mixing warm and cool waters, will have to be formally assessed as to their significance, all the while bearing in mind that in real terms only 1/7000ths of the surface area of our seas would actually be needed to provide power and water to our entire planet, so the surface area involved in any one Energy Island is minute.

We will be eventually be working on systems where the working fluid will be taken to be condensed in heat exchangers 1Km down and then pumped back up to the surface, so that there would be no effect whatsoever on submarine life.

Aside from the abovementioned two elements whose physical effects would need to be established, Energy Islands and OTEC are environmentally friendly.