No. 12: Japan’s first substantiative experiment of ocean thermal energy conversion (October 29, 2011)

Kobe Steel and Saga University will start Japan’s first substantiative experiment of ocean thermal energy conversion that generates electricity using the temperature difference of seawater. They plan to develop the next-generation technology that generates electricity at about 20 yen per kW on a 10,000 kW scale. They will build demonstration equipment and conduct the experiment for one year starting in 2013.

The ocean thermal energy conversion generates low-test ammonia vapor by dint of warm seawater near the ocean surface and runs a turbine for power generation. Surplus vapor is cooled down by cool seawater in the deeper layer for recycling. Saga University will promote the efficiency of the heat exchanger using titan developed by Kobe Steel to reduce the cost of the equipment. Using the new heat exchanger, the research team will build substantiative equipment with a capacity of about 10 kW and conduct the substantiative experiment for one year to verity the generation cost. The experiment site will be an island in Okinawa Prefecture. Starting this year, it is a five year project led by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.