Categorized | Environment

OTEC facility proposed for NELHA

Hawaii 24/7 Staff

The Draft Environmental Assessment has been published for OTEC International’s proposed 1 megawatt demonstration plant at the NELHA.

OTEC International LLC (OTI), a Maryland limited liability company, proposes to construct and operate an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) Innovation and Demonstration Facility on land leased from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) at the Hawaii Science and Technology Park (HOST Park), Keahole.

OTI’s facility will serve as a test platform for research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of various phases of OTEC technology. Advances achieved at the RD&D site will facilitate installation and operation of commercial OTEC power plants.

The Abell Foundation, Inc. of Baltimore, Md. is the principal member and sponsor of OTI. Abell originally established Sea Solar Power International LLC, the precursor of OTI, in 2001 with a goal of bringing pioneering OTEC research by J. Hilbert Anderson and his son, James Anderson to technological and commercial maturity.

To Abell’s knowledge, no other private organization has devoted more capital and human resources to the objective of commercializing OTEC technology than Abell and OTI, and no other alternative energy has as great a near term promise for solving the base load energy needs of coastal countries and communities of the world in tropical and semi-tropical zones.

Abell and OTI’s approach to OTEC leverages the more than 40 years of research and engineering by the Andersons on optimizing the OTEC cycle and its key components.

Abell also is the exclusive worldwide licensee of the Andersons’ work with OTEC, and the Abell portfolio of OTEC innovation includes substantial know-how, four patents issued and seven pending patents filed within the last two years.

For full the DEA, visit:

Click to access Draft_EA-071012_reduced.pdf

Comments on the DEA are welcome through Aug. 22.

Comments should be in writing, either by email or regular mail. Comments should be addressed to North Shore Consultants with copies to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) and the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

* David M. Robichaux, Principal
North Shore Consultants
PO Box 790
Haleiwa, HI 96712
(808) 637-8030 office
(808) 368-5352 cell
Email: robichaud001@hawaii.rr.com

* Greg Barbour, Executive Director
Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority
73-4460 Queen Kaahumanu Hwy. #101
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
(808) 327-9585 office

* Office of Environmental Quality Control
235 South Beretania Street, Suite 702
Honolulu, HI 96813
Email: oeqc@doh.hawaii.gov

The EA, which has been prepared at the request of NELHA, looks at the environmental implications at the facility’s proposed site.

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