The thermal energy of the oceans comes mainly from solar energy. The area of the world's oceans is vast and limitless, and the tropical oceans are also quite large. Ocean thermal energy can be replenished after use and is worth developing and using. According to calculations, as long as half of the ocean surface, between 20 degrees south latitude and 20 degrees north latitude, is used for electricity generation and the sea water temperature does not drop in average of 1°C, 60 billion kilowatts of electrical energy can be obtained, which is equivalent to the current production of electricity in the world. Experts estimate that the U.S. East Coast alone can get 75 times the electricity the U.S. needed in 1980 from warm current coming from the Gulf of Mexico.
How to effectively use the energy of the seawater temperature difference to serve the'humanity? Arsène Arsonval of France first proposed the idea of generating electricity from ocean temperature differences in 1881. That is, the invention of a power plant that uses the temperature difference between the surface layer (heat source) and the deep layer (cold source) of sea water to produce electricity. So, in 1930, Claude successfully used the energy of the ocean temperature difference to generate electricity for the first time off the coast of Cuba. However, because the water pumps in the power generation system consumed more energy than the electricity they produced, producing pure electricity. the amount was negative. However, people were not discouraged. In 1979, Hawaii's MINI-OTEC power generation system generated a net power generation capacity of 15 kW for the first time [1]. Technologyseawater temperature difference power generation uses surface seawater (25℃~28℃) heated by solar energy as a high-temperature heat source, and uses water from sea (4℃~7℃) at a depth of 500 meters to 1,000 meters as a heat source. a low temperature heat source. It is made up of a heat engine. Power generation technology using a thermodynamic cycle system. From a high temperature heat source to a low temperature heat source, it is possible to obtain efficient energy with a total temperature difference of approximately 15°C to 20°C. Ultimately, it is possible to obtain energy with technical significance from a temperature difference of 11°C.
As early as September 1881, the Parisian biophysicist de Assonval proposed the idea of using ocean temperature differences to produce electricity. In November 1926, the French Academyse des sciences sets up an experimental thermoelectric power station, which confirms Assonval's idea. In 1930, Claude, a student of Assonval, built a seawater temperature difference power plant in the sea near Cuba.
In 1961, France built two 3,500-kilowatt seawater temperature differential power plants on the coast of West Africa. The United States and Sweden jointly built a seawater temperature difference power plant with an installed capacity of 1,000 kilowatts on the Hawaiian Islands in 1979. The United States also plans to build a producing electricity at seawater temperature difference of 1,000,000 kilowatts in the 21st century and using the thermal energy of the Gulf Stream. Establish 500 ocean thermal power plants on the east coast, with a power generation capacity of 200 million kilowatts [3].