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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2013

Study on the evolution of the marine energy potential in the Lesser Antilles : Case of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Résumé

The Lesser Antilles are composed of small islands, electrically isolated from each other, which energy needs are steadily increasing. Their natural environment (high solar irradiance, sustained Trade winds, volcanic activity) has encouraged the development of alternative energy. The growth of the demand has considerably increased the pressure for the understanding and mastering of these new energy resources. However, the insular configuration provides a large marine area which energy potentials have been poorly studied. Since five years, work are conducted on marine energy ressources at the Laboratory of Research in Geosciences and Energy. We focused on one of them : the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). This study presents a reflection about its potential, its operability and its future in the Lesser Antilles area. The first results obtained from the analysis of oceanographic surveys in the Lesser Antilles, since 1914 to 2003 (NODC/NOAA [1,2]), allowed establishing the existence of the OTEC resource in the area. The temperature extreme profiles indicate that the difference between surface and deep waters is generally greater than the OTEC operability threshold value, 20°C [3]. Through numerical tools used for the analysis of historical oceanographic data, we could achieved : plotting of temperature profils, mapping of the measure locations, and identification of operability areas. Limits for the exploitation of the marine thermal ressource in the area have been also studied, thanks to the dimensioning, of water pumping and electrical transmission systems. Two cases have been analysed : a 7 MW onshore plant located at the northside of Desirade island and a 100 MW offshore plant. Our study showed that when huge flows are used (such as 14 m3.s-1 for cold water and 42 m3.s-1 for hot water), the ressource is operable for the pumping of cold water up to the depth of 1100 m and the pumping of hot surface water at the distance of 100 m from the plant. In the case of offshore plant, the operability is limited by the electrical transmission systems (HVDC/HVAC) : electricity losses, costs and the maximum offshore distance of 50 km, have been discussed. Despite the fact that the ressource seems to be unlimited, comparing pumped volumes (cold and hot waters) to the available volume at oceanic scale, sustainability remains to be proven. To improve this feasibility parameters such as, power plant efficiency, difficulty of storage, energy conversion, biofoulings, water discharges, cogenerated products, …, should be examined. Other solutions like OTEC-Solar coupling or OTEC-Heat production units coupling are explored by numerical simulation of the system of production.
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Dates et versions

hal-03714157 , version 1 (05-07-2022)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03714157 , version 1

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Raphaël Cécé, Jean-François Dorville, Didier Clément Bernard. Study on the evolution of the marine energy potential in the Lesser Antilles : Case of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. Caribbean Waves 2, Jan 2013, Gosier, Guadeloupe. ⟨hal-03714157⟩

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