Dossier Océan et énergie - Énergie Thermique des Mers

Sommaire IOA News Letters

5MW OTEC SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT FOR ST. CROIX,VIRGIN ISLANDS

by
W. Allan Bean and Kenneth Haines
GenOtec
U.S.A.

A water and Power Purchase Agreement for five megawatts of OTEC-produced electricity and 1.5 million gallons of potable desalinated water per day has been negotiated up to signing with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA).  The land-based, closed-cycle OTEC plant facility will be built on St. Croix's north shore, where 1,000 meter-deep water is located within three kilometers from land.

The capital cost of the OTEC power system and the add-on multistage flash evaporation desalination water plant is estimated to be approximately $35 million.  The OTEC project will be funded through equity financing at no cost to WAPA. Dept service will be paid out of revenues from water and power sales at $6.50 per thousand gallons and $0.65 per kilowatt-hour respectively, with rate adjustments annually, using prior-year actual maintenance and operation costs and selected price indices.

The WAPA/GenOtec Purchase Agreement is expected to be finalized in the last quarter of 1993.  Preliminary site plans for the project and a summary of the project's protracted history from Proposal Development to Purchase Agreement Signing will be presented.

The cold seawater discharge from the OTEC plant will create several co-product industries for St. Croix: cold storage; air-conditioning of nearby hotels and condominiums; ice plants; aquaculture; drip agriculture and greenhouse horticulture.