L'énergie thermique des mers

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, OTEC, is a concentrated renewable source of energy available in the one third of the world's ocean lying in the tropics. An OTEC plant is a heat engine fed with warm surface water and cold water pumped up from the deep. The difference of temperature, 20°C, is small, it can be used to produce electricity as well as fresh water. Plants can be installed on land or at sea. The main problem is to build and deploy a large diameter pipe to pump the cold water from 600 to 1 000 m in depth. France, who discovered the idea realised some major demonstrations fifty years ago. More recently US and Japanese firms have spent more than dollars 200 millions to develop prototypes and research in this field. Several major OTEC pilot plants are presently discussed mainly hy US, Japanese and French teams. The main challenge is to prove the potential competitivness of OTEC electricity in the 10 to 100 MWe range, with diesel electricity in the 1990's. Production of OTEC desalination water and marine proteins are also under consideration. The present book give a unique overview of both technical and economical aspects of this promising source of energy. [NOT CONTROLLED OCR]