OTEC developer appoints head of operations

Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE) has named Bob Griffin as its new Chief Operations Officer.

Griffin brings over 35 years of experience in leading large engineering organizations providing planning, budgeting, program management, design, and construction management to OTE, the company said.

As a former USAF Colonel, Griffin had significant experience representing the Air Force in consultations with other federal agencies, state and community governments, congressional members and their staffs, and committees.

Upon retiring from the USAF, Griffin built upon his USAF experience to establish and grow Energy Services Company and Energy Savings Performance Contracting business at Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Jeremy Feakins, Chairman and CEO of Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation, said: “Bob brings a wealth of knowledge that will be especially important as OTE expands into its next phase of development. His experience with major defense contractors, large-scale energy and engineering projects, and military renewable energy implementations will be invaluable as we execute future projects.”

Commenting on his appointment, Griffin said: “Providing access to clean water and developing energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions is both a personal and professional passion. Throughout my seven years at Lockheed Martin Energy, I had the pleasure of working with many outstanding suppliers and found OTE to be an excellent teammate as well as a company with which I shared mutual values and purpose.”

OTE is a Pennsylvania-based company that designs and develops deep-water hydrothermal clean-energy systems which include producing fossil-fuel free electricity through ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and environmentally friendly cooling though seawater air conditioning (SWAC).

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.

The company currently has eight OTEC/SWAC projects in the proposals stage.