The Potential Impacts of OTEC Intakes on Aquatic Organisms at an OTEC Site under Development on Kauai, HI
- OTE Corporation
- Alden Research Laboratory
- Tenera Environmental
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a marine renewable energy technology with the potential to contribute significantly to the baseload power needs of tropical island communities and remote U.S. military installations. As with other renewable energy technologies, however, there are potential challenges to its commercialization: technological, financial, social, and environmental. Given the large volumes of seawater required to drive the electricity-producing cycle, there is potential for the intakes to negatively impact the marine resources of the source waterbody through the impingement and entrainment of marine organisms. The goal of this project was to identify feasible warm water intake designs for a land-based OTEC facility proposed for development in Port Allen, Kauai and to characterize the populations of ichthyoplankton near the proposed warm water intake location that could be at risk of entrainment. The specific objectives of this project were to: • Complete a site-specific assessment of available and feasible warm water intake technologies to determine the best intake designs for minimizing impacts to aquatic organisms at the proposed land-based OTEC site in Port Allen, Kauai. • Complete a field sampling program to collect biological data to characterize the baseline populations of ichthyoplankton near the sites being considered for the warm water intake at the proposed land-based OTEC site in Port Allen, Kauai. Various intake design options are presented with the focus on providing adequate environmental protection to the local ichthyoplankton population while providing an economically viable intake option to the OTEC developer. Further definition by NOAA and other environmental regulators is required to further refine the designs presented to meet all US regulations for future OTEC development.
- Research Organization:
- OCEES International, Inc. dba OTE Corporation
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE EE Office of Wind and Hydropower Technologies (EE-2B)
- Contributing Organization:
- OTE Corporations; Alden Research Laboratory; Tenera Environmental
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0002653
- OSTI ID:
- 1092416
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EE0002653
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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