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Sea Solar Power Inc. to Tap Sea Temperature Gradient
Those hot ocean waters have a more useful purpose than just generating
hurricanes. A reverse refrigeration process generates electricity from the
difference in temperature between surface and deep water.
by Sterling
D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
Copyright © 2006
Source:
SeaSolarPower.com
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Thermal Energy
- A pound of water raised one degree is
lifted to an equivalent height of 778 feet.
- OTEC operates on a delta -T of 40ΊF.
- 40Ί
x 778 feet = 31,120 feet
- Best possible Carnot cycle designed by
SSP is 3.25%
- 3.25% x 31,120 = 1,011 feet
- Warm water, cold water - divide 1,000 by
2 = 500 feet of head -- constant heat source.
Source: SeaSolarPower.com |
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Source:
SeaSolarPower.com
(animated) |
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, USA -- Sea Solar Power Inc. (SSP) is developing a solar
power technology that does not fluctuate with the weather, but is available
constantly.
Their solution is to harness the solar energy stored in the sea by tapping the
thermal gradient that exists naturally between the surface and deep waters,
using a reverse refrigeration cycle.
The heat source is the 80° F surface water in the tropical oceans, while
typically 3,000 feet below the surface is the heat sink or the cold bottom
water, which is 40° F. This temperature difference is sufficient to operate
vapor turbines, which drive generators and produces electricity and fresh water
as a byproduct. (Ref.)
SSP models predict that the cost of energy generation through this method will
be within a price range comparable to nuclear, coal, natural gas, and other
contemporary grid power plants.
Optimal for Equatorial Zone
A brief summary on the company website points out that solar energy stored in
the ocean throughout the equatorial zone could provide 300 times the world's
consumption of energy." (Ref.)
SSP also calls attention to the fact that the greatest increase in demand for
new power is occurring in this region. Population growth is greater there, and
the standard of living, which had been rather low, is now picking up.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
Known as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, the basic technology was
invented in 1881 by a French scientist, Jacques Arsene D'Arsonval.
SSP has been developing this concept since 1962, and is now in its second
generation of leadership, with company President, James H. Anderson, Jr, is
picking up where his father, J. Hilbert Anderson, who passed way last year, left
off. Jim III is also involved in this company that has been hard at this
all these years.
J. Hilbert Anderson, the First, had realized that standard off-the-shelf heat
exchangers and turbo machinery from the power industry for this application
would be inefficient. He set forth to design the major components
anew. In his model, advanced turbines and heat exchangers optimized for
the duty would be employed.
How it Works
According to Jim Anderson and the company website, each plant would use
multiple heat exchangers (evaporators and condensers), pumps, vapor turbines,
compressors and generators. The system is charged with propylene, a
refrigeration fluid. This refrigerant boils at low temperatures (67 degrees F)
under a pressure of 150 psi.
The 80Ί F solar heated surface water is an ample heat source to cause the
propylene to convert from a liquid to a gas or vapor. Warm water pumped through
the boilers (heat exchangers) boils the propylene into a vapor, which expands
through vapor turbines that drive the generators.
In order to complete the cycle, cold water (40 degrees F) is pumped up from the
lower depths of the ocean. The cold water is used to condense the propylene
vapor back into its liquid state and then it is pumped into the boiler to
complete the cycle.
Electricity would be transmitted to shore from the plant-ship via underwater
cable, or directly from the land-based plant to the grid. (Ref.)
Source: SeaSolarPower.com
Fresh Water Production
The company site also claims that in addition to electricity, large quantities
of fresh water can be produced each day as part of the system.
Incoming warm water is de-oxygenated by means of a vacuum to prevent marine
growth on the inside of the power plant. The water vapor can then be sent across
cold heat exchanger surface area where it is condensed into fresh water.
This becomes a valuable by-product of the process. The system could also
be designed with the exclusive purpose of producing fresh water. (Ref.)
Toward Commercial Application
The company has been testing and refining the various components of the system
over the years. When they build their first full prototype, it will be a
fully operational power plant.
James Anderson predicts that their testing will be complete in two to three
years. He says that the testing done thus far has been corroborating the
projected cost estimates that predict that the system will be able to compete
well with existing power generation technologies.
Pending Prototype
Depending on the contracting party the company ends up attracting, their first
full prototype could be of a size anywhere between 10 and 100 megawatts
output. A shore-based plant would be of the 10 MW range, while the 100 MW
plant would be a plant-ship.
About the Company
Sea Solar Power, a Pennsylvania corporation is the developer and owner of the
Sea Solar Power Technology. The Abell Foundation of Baltimore, "dedicated
to enhancing the quality of life in Baltimore and Maryland" (ref.),
has licensed the technology from Sea Solar Power. The Abell Foundation created a
wholly owned subsidiary, Sea Solar Power International, to promote and market
the Sea Solar Power technology.
# # #
SOURCES:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
CONTACTS:
Sea Solar Power, Inc.
250 North Main Street
Jacobus, PA 17407-1011
phone: (717) 428-3246
fax: (717) 428-2865
Robert J. Nicholson III
President, Sea Solar Power International
111 S. Calvert Street, Suite 2300
Baltimore, MD 21230
phone: (410) 547-1300
email: <nicholson {at} seasolarpower.com >
Related Coverage
 Tapping
Thermal-Gradient Cold: Free Power or Planetary Suicide? - Advocates
of tapping ocean depths for stored cold promise a clean future. But is it
really environmentally friendly, or a slippery slope into unrecoverable
catastrophe? (PESN; June 3, 2005)
Mary-Sue Haliburton, author of the above piece, gave the following
comment (Jan. 4, 2005) in regard to the Sea Solar Power's approach.
- - - -
Indeed, I hope my concerns will prove to be unfounded! The other
technology described in that earlier article was "mining"
that cold, rather than tapping the heat at the surface.
Perhaps in your vacuum de-oxygenation or other related processes, your
approach will help cool that surface water down from its excessive
heat, and thus help to preserve the deep-cold water as a
resource. And maybe even calm down some of those excess
hurricanes... |
Slashdot Coverage
Join the discussion at:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/04/2212255&tid=232&tid=14
Harnessing Vertical
Sea Temperature Gradient
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Posted by ScuttleMonkey
on Wednesday January 04, @03:48PM
from the ohms-from-davey-jones dept.
Sterling D. Allan
writes "Sea Solar Power Inc., run by three generations of
James Hilbert Andersons, has developed a solar power technology that
does not fluctuate with the weather, but is available constantly.
Their solution is to harness the solar
energy stored in the sea by tapping the thermal gradient that
exists naturally between the surface and deep waters, using a reverse
refrigeration cycle. The modeling and testing done by the Anderson
family over three generations since 1962 predicts that the cost of
energy generation through this method will be within a price range
comparable to nuclear, coal, natural gas, and other contemporary grid
power plants. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, was invented
in 1881 by a French scientist, Jacques Arsene D'Arsonval. SSP should
be ready to build their first full prototype 2-3 years from now."
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See also
Page posted by Sterling
D. Allan Jan. 3, 2006
Last updated November 21, 2006
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