The US Naval Facilities Engineering Command has recently awarded USD 8.12 million to Lockheed Martin for further development of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. The technology uses the temperature difference between deep water (colder) and and the ocean's surface (warmer) to extract energy.

Computer rendering of a OTEC floating power plant. (Image: Lockheed Martin)

The contract sees a Lockheed Marting lead industry team developing critical OTEC components and working on improved design for a future pilot OTEM power plant. This is the beginning phase of a larger effort to try and bring this technology to a utility-scale level, to produce power commercially.

Lockheed Martin has already been working on OTEC since the 1970's, when the company constructed mini-OTEC. The early prototype still remains the world's only working floating OTEC system which generates more power than is needed for self-sustainment. Since then, the company has been working on critical technologies needed in such a system. In 2008, the DoE awarded the company with a contract to demonstrate the fabrication processes for a cold water pipe, one of the key compononents of the OTEC system.