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www.sname.org/sname/mt July 2013 e rst OTEC demonstration plant was built in Cuba in the 1930s. e federal government became actively involved in 1974 and conducted OTEC-related tests and studies at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at Keahole Point on the Kona coast of Hawaii Island to develop a modern OTEC plant. Over the following decade, a barge dubbed Mini-OTEC , anchored o Keahole Point, demonstrated production of net electrical power via the new closed-cycle OTEC technology. In 1981, shore-based OTEC research began with a project testing biofouling and corrosion counter measures for the closed-cycle OTEC process. From 1993 to 1998, the 210 kW OC-OTEC experimental apparatus was operated at NELHA to continue the search for valuable data and future modi cations to improve the ocean thermal conversion process. Ultimately, OTEC suffered the fate of many renewable technologies, as the oil exporting countries increased output and reduced prices to the point that most renewables became economically prohibitive. At todays high oil prices, however, a range of companies?from small, academically-based startups to industrial giants like Lockheed Martin?are reviving inter- est in OTEC. Hawaiian Electric is negotiating a power purchase agree- ment (PPA) with a small OTEC company. It is not a nal contract, but an indication of commitment and the faith of the utility that the project o ers a reasonable chance of suc- cess. A PPA provides rm documentation of a customer for the developers generation output, an essential element in seeking investors and other funding for the development pro- cess, which includes community outreach, environmental assessment, and permitting. On the most remote island chain in the world, Hawaiis people feel a deep attachment, reverence, and concern for the ocean. Descendants of the rst Polynesian navigators, who arrived here hundreds of years ago navigating by the stars, often have familial attachments to speci c coastal areas and consider marine animals, especially sharks, to be protective personal dei- ties, or aumakua? in Hawaiian. Hawaii is home to significant academic and commer- cial research and development in the ocean sciences?the University of Hawaii being somewhat uniquely a land grant, sea grant, and space grant academic institution?and a number of commercial industries depend on the ocean. Hawaiis tourism industry, the states largest, views a clean ocean, bright beaches, and swimmable waters as an essential part of Hawaiis attrac- tion to the six to seven million people who visit each year. e proprietary emotions that Hawaiis sur ng and boating com- munity feel toward the ocean cannot be measured. Ocean projects (most recently a high-speed interisland ferry that held great economic promise) have failed abruptly for lack of community support and adequate environmental assurances as foundation for that support. A thorough and unbiased environmental study and Vega and his colleagues are working to expand the wave energy test site o Kaneohe with the support of the United States Navy and the DOE. THE UTILITY PERSPECTIVE: HAWAII There are some 98 nations with adequate OTEC resources. Image source: Hawaii National Marine Renewable Energy Center. (continued on page 66)