Environmental monitoring and assessment program at potential OTEC sites

Conference · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:6240870

Wilde, P

Ecologically sound operations of projected Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants can be insured by careful attention to the marine environment during the design phase. This requires quality information from regions of potential OTEC interest, coordinated with required assessment studies to insure legal compliance. Currently, preliminary or actual surveys and laboratory studies are being conducted in the waters of Puerto Rico, the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, and Guam for potential moored or seacoast OTEC plants and in the equatorial South Atlantic for proposed plant--ship operations to provide such benchmark and baseline data. These data plus existing archival information can be used to model effects of OTEC operations based on projected design schemes. Four major areas of concerns (1) redistribution of oceanic properties, (2) chemical pollution, (3) structural effects, and (4) socio-legal-economic; and 11 key issues associated with OTEC development and operation have been identified. In general mitigating strategies can be used to alleviate many deleterious environmental effects of operational problems as biostimulation, outgassing, etc. Various assessment research studies on toxicity, biocide releases, etc., are under way or are planned to investigate areas where no clear mitigating strategy is available. Data from the monitoring and assessment programs is being integrated into a series of environmental compliance documents including a comprehensive programmatic environmental impact assessment.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA). Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6240870
• Report Number(s): LBL-9051; CONF-790631-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140400 -- Solar Energy-- Environmental Aspects
140800* -- Solar Energy-- Ocean Energy Systems
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BASELINE ECOLOGY
CARIBBEAN SEA
CENTRAL AMERICA
COASTAL WATERS
CONVERSION
DEGASSING
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
GUAM
GULF OF MEXICO
HAWAII
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
ISLANDS
LATIN AMERICA
MARINE SURVEYS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NORTH AMERICA
OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION
POLLUTION
PUERTO RICO
SEAS
SITE SELECTION
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
SOLAR ENERGY CONVERSION
SURFACE WATERS
TOXICITY
USA
WATER POLLUTION
WEST INDIES
WESTERN REGION