Ocean Thermal Energy: Pros and Cons
Sep 22
- Ocean thermal energy conversion is a renewable alternative energy source, one that offers many benefits
- One drawback of ocean thermal energy is that these plants can not be placed in many locations because of the requirements
- One of the pros of the ocean thermal energy conversion process is that one side effect is clean drinkable water
![Ocean Thermal Energy Ocean Thermal Energy](/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/ocean-thermal-energy-pros-and-cons_1.jpg)
Ocean thermal energy conversion is not all benefits though, and this process does have some cons as well. These power generation plants can be prohibitively expensive to design, plan, and build. This requires an outlay of large amounts of money up front, before any benefits are seen. Pipes which are very large in diameter, and thousands of feet long, must be installed to allow the ice cold water to be brought up from deep in the ocean without the water increasing in temperature. Maintenance can also be a disadvantage, because salt water can corrode pipes and other equipment. This can make repairs and maintenance quite costly at times. Another disadvantage that ocean thermal energy conversion has is that when the seawater is sucked into the pipes far below the surface, algae, plankton, and other organic materials can also be pulled into the pipes. This material can clog up the system and cause it to stop working unless the situation is fixed. Severe weather in the ocean can also cause problems. Because the water temperature difference must be significant, these plants are most ideally situated in tropical areas. These are also the areas that get the most violent tropical storms and hurricanes, and these events can cause the ocean thermal energy plant to suffer damage, or even a complete destruction.
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