A new storm-resistant ocean energy prototype has been installed off the coast of Gran Canaria, developed under the EU’s Horizon Europe-funded PLOTEC project, as…
A new storm-resistant ocean energy prototype has been installed off the coast of Gran Canaria, developed under the EU’s Horizon Europe-funded PLOTEC project, as a next step in harnessing Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) for delivering clean and renewable energy.
The deployment marks the first long-term offshore operation of an OTEC platform in decades, following early temporary demonstrations such as the historic Mini-OTEC and OTEC-1 projects, deployed in the late 1970s and early 1980s off Keahole Point in Hawaii, which used a U.S. Navy barge and a converted World War II T2 tanker, respectively.
OTEC is a renewable technology that harnesses the ocean’s thermal gradient to generate electricity. Warm surface seawater is used to vaporise a working fluid, driving a turbine to produce energy, while cold deep-sea water condenses the fluid, creating a continuous cycle.
This phase involved deploying the platform’s cylindrical hull at the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) test site. The next phase will see the installation and connection of the cold-water pipe, completing the system ahead of full structural testing in the Atlantic environment.
During this structural testing stage, the platform will face the rough conditions of the Atlantic Ocean, allowing detailed analysis of its resistance,
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