HydrOTEC

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology uses the temperature difference between the sea surface and sea bed for the production of electricity and/or by-products including desalinated water in an open or closed cycle system. OTEC has not yet reached the same level of development and adoption as other Renewable Energy Systems, due to its higher complexity in design and implementation particularly in regions where the temperature difference of water at sea bed and surface is below 20C. In the Mediterranean Sea, this temperature difference is around 10C, which limits the electrical energy generation efficiency. This shortcoming can be addressed through the use of solar energy in a hybrid solar thermal OTEC power generation arrangement in an open cycle for the production of high value green hydrogen and desalinated water. The HydrOTEC project aims to increase fundamental understanding and advance the state of the art on the design and implementation of hybrid solar thermal and OTEC technologies in the Mediterranean region. The project addresses the objective of the call, module 3.2 hydrogen and renewable energy fuels, through the effective production, and storage of green hydrogen. It will involve an ambitious programme of fundamental, industrial and experimental research and extensive simulation studies to underpin the development of an experimental system for proof of concept, and design tools to facilitate scale up and adoption of the technology.