One of the more interesting items in the Marshall Islands INDC announcement of climate targets in the leadup to the Paris 2015 COP21 climate conference, is the nation's interest in developing and hosting Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology as part of it's strategy for reducing fossil fuels and transitioning to renewable energy.
You might ask, what the hell is Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)?
It is a technology for extracting renewable energy from the ocean temperature differential between the sea surface and ocean depths of 1,000 metres or more. It works best where there is a large temperature differential of 20 degrees Celsius or more between the sea surface and ocean depths, so the technology is limited to equatorial latitudes from about 20 degrees North to 20 degrees South.
Power plants can either be land-based or floating platforms. The technology is pollution free providing baseload 24/7 power using a heat exchanger and turbine to extract power from the temperature differential between the sea surface and the deep ocean.
