Title: Environmental impact and design of an OTEC plant

Authors: C. Wu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21402, USA

Abstract: This paper presents a critical examination of the environmental impact and design optimisation of a potential OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) power plant on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Specific power of a finite-time thermodynamic heat engine is chosen to be the objective function in the design of the OTEC. ICAI (Intelligent Computer Aided Instruction) computer software, CyclePad, is used in the analysis process. Through manipulation of the boiler pressure and condenser pressure, the specific power of the OTEC plant is optimised.

Keywords: ocean thermal energy; environmental effect; design; intelligent computer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2001.000896

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2001 Vol.15 No.3/4, pp.186-194

Published online: 30 Jul 2003 *

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