OTEC Shoe Finally Falls; Lockheed To Team with Taiwanese To Build Demonstration Plant in Hawaii

Pardon our enthusiasm, but we think this news deserves a toast --
appropriately backed by an ocean with limitless power generation potential.

We’ve been predicting it for months – and as recently as two days ago. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology is going to be built in Hawaii!

We have to say it’s about time. First theorized in the 1880s and shown to be feasible, at least in a small way, in the 1970s off the Kona Coast in Hawaiian waters, OTEC is potentially the major baseload generation source that will free Hawaii from its addiction to imported oil.

The announcement came today from Governor Linda Lingle’s office, which issued a press release that begs for more details – such as when and where. We’ll probably hear from Lockheed Martin in a day or a few more. (Pacific Business News carried the first media story to our knowledge.)

According to the release, Lockheed will team with the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute to build a 10-megawatt plant. More details to come……

(See this blog's first post for some background on OTEC.)