OTE Corp to build OTEC plant in Virgin Islands

Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE) has received a permit to construct an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) power plant in the Virgin Islands of the United States.

OTE informed it has received an official order from the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission approving OTE’s application to become a Qualified Facility.

The company is thereby enabled to enter into direct Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) negotiations with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to build an OTEC plant on the island of Saint Croix.

The plant on the Saint Croix is expected to generate 7 to 15MW of power, with the construction costs estimated to be between $200 million to $300 million, according to Lancaster Online.

OTEC is a form of renewable electricity generation, particularly suitable for equatorial waters, which uses the difference in temperature that naturally exists in tropical waters between the warmer surface water and cooler deep water to create electricity.

OTE is a Pennsylvania-based company that develops plans and projects for deep-water hydrothermal clean-energy systems which include producing fossil-fuel free electricity through OTEC and environmentally friendly Seawater Air Conditioning (SWAC).

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