OTE Corporation Signs Memo of Understanding, Will Build and Operate 2 OTEC plants in The Bahamas

 Graphic from today's edition of The Nassau Guardian.

This one does seem to be the “real deal,” and maybe ocean thermal energy conversion technology finally is about to see its first commercial-grade power plants.

OTE Corporation has signed a memo of understanding with the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) to build, operate and maintain two OTEC plants somewhere in the islands – location to be determined.

The company, with headquarters in Pennsylvania and an office in Honolulu, says it will build the plants using its own financial resources and will require no financing by BEC or The Bahamian government.

Stories in The Tribune, caribbean360 and The Nassau Guardian have details on the deal. The latter leaves out the essence of how OTEC works – glancing over the process by saying cold and warm ocean waters “are combined to produce great amounts of stream (sic), which subsequently drives turbine generators."

But we’re in no mood to quibble with the reports coming from The Bahamas (beyond our usual copyeditor tendencies). This would seem to be a significant advance of the OTEC technology, and one can hope it will be pursued quicker here in Hawaii because of what’s will happen there in The Bahamas.