A.

3 Further possibilities

Besides the discussed options, there exist further possibilities to exploit ocean en-
ergy for the purpose of power generation.

A.3.1 Thermal gradients

The major portion of the solar insulation is stored as heat in the atmosphere and in
solid or liquid components of the earth’s surface. About 20 % of the total radiated
energy from the sun is converted into heat solely in tropical oceans. From a tech-
nical viewpoint it is possible to utilise this heat. Yet, due to the large water sur-
faces located within the equator belt, the theoretical potential of this option is rela-
tively high.
Fig. A.8 shows the typical water temperature variations of equatorial oceans in
relation to water depth. According to this illustration, the temperature varies
roughly between 22 and 28 °C (within the course of a year) within the water layer
close to the surface. The temperature of the deeper layers remains more or less
constant over the entire year and is relatively low when compared to the water
temperature at the surface.

Water temperature in °C
0 10 20 30
0

500
Water depth in m

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Fig. A.8 Temperature variations in relation to ocean depth, simplified illustration (accord-
ing to /A-2/)

In principle, this type of thermal energy could be used for power generation by
means of open or closed Rankine processes (ORC processes). This cycle is based
on the temperature difference between the warm surface water of a maximum of
22 to approximately 28 °C and the cold deep waters of approximately 4 to 7 °C
(Fig. A.9). The efficiency of such a cycle depends on the useful temperature dif-
ference. Due to the small available temperature differences of a maximum of
about 20 K, these power plants can only achieve very low efficiencies that vary
between 1 and a maximum of 3 %. In addition, for this electricity generation
method enormous volumes of water need to be circulated. Furthermore, the water
needs to be transferred from deep sea layers to the ocean surface and vice-versa.
The design of these plants is thus very expensive.
To keep energy transfer to the customer to a minimum, ocean thermal energy
conversion plants are mainly built near the coastline. In parallel, an easy access to
cold deep water is required to run such a cycle.
As the energy yield is relatively low when compared to the large mass or water
flows to be transferred, this technology, generally referred to as OTEC (Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion) has, to date, not been applied due to economic as-
pects. Since there still remain unsolved technical problems with regard to the suc-
cessful operation of such ocean thermal energy conversion plants, their applica-
tion in the sunny parts of our planet cannot be expected within the years to come.

Warm
water
Warm water inflow Electrical energy
inflow

High pressure
NH3-steam Low pressure
NH3-steam
Water 25 °C
discharge

Turbo- 7 °C
30 m diameter generator
20 °C 10 °C
Eva- Con-
porator denser
700 – 1,000 m
10 °C 10 °C
Pump

10 m diameter
23 °C
High pressure Low pressure
5 °C
liquid NH3 liquid NH3
Warm water Cold water
7 °C
discharge inflow
Cold water
Cold water
inflow
discharge

Fig. A.9 Example of an OTEC plant (left: layout; right: power plant cycle; according to
/A-1/)

A variety of this technology suitable for geographical areas, where both cold
ocean currents and geothermal energy are available, has only lately been intro-
duced. This method benefits from the temperature differences between warm ar-
eas near volcanic structures and cold ocean water. However, it is unlikely that this
method will be put into practice in the near future due to considerable technical
problems.