Economic Viability Analysis for an OTEC Power Plant at San Andrés Island

This paper presents the economic feasibility analysis of a 2 MW Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power plant in the open cycle. The plant can supply 6.35% of the average annual consumption of the electricity demand located at San Andrés Island (Colombia). On the one hand, the work presents the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Herrera, Jorge|||0000-0003-0273-4043, Sierra, Santiago, Hernández-Hamón, Hernando, Ardila, Néstor|||0000-0003-4973-1106, Franco, Andrés|||0000-0002-9809-8151, Ibeas, Asier|||0000-0001-5094-3152
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:259243
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/259243
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/jmse10060713
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Floating OTEC plant
Marine energy
Power energy
Economic feasibility analysis
Descripción
Sumario:This paper presents the economic feasibility analysis of a 2 MW Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power plant in the open cycle. The plant can supply 6.35% of the average annual consumption of the electricity demand located at San Andrés Island (Colombia). On the one hand, the work presents the selection of the place to locate an offshore facility considering the technical viability while, on the other hand, the economic viability analysis is performed. The latter considers two scenarios: one without desalinated water production and another one with desalinated water. In this way, it is intended to first determine its construction's technical requirements to analyse its economic performance. This approach allows us to have a general idea of the implementation costs and the benefits obtained with this type of plant, for the particular case of San Andrés, an island in the Colombian Caribbean with sustained stress on electricity production and freshwater generation. The results obtained show that the technology is viable and that the investment can be recovered in an adequate time horizon.