The Bahamas - Home of the World’s First Ocean-Powered Clean Energy Plants

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas could soon become not only a dream destination for exotic vacations, but also the home of two ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plants.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today towards building the world's first two commercially viable OTEC plants that produce fossil-fuel free electricity, potable water and sustainable food production in the form of aquaculture, mariculture and chilled soil agriculture.

The two companies involved - Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE Corp.) and Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) - hope this will reduce The Bahamas' use and dependency on fossil fuel.

The Bahamian plants will be the world's first OTEC facilities to utilize ocean water for clean energy, fresh drinking water and sustainable food production in a commercial capacity.

OTEC power production facilities offer considerable savings for the producer and consumer while establishing energy and resource independence for the communities they serve.

Such facilities also establish clearly predictable operating costs and eliminate nearly all adverse environmental impact.

OTEC is said to be ideal for use in tropical zones, where more than 1 billion people live today.

BEC operates electric generation, transmission and distribution systems across The Commonwealth of Bahamas, serving 85% of all electricity customers in the archipelagic nation.

"OTEC is a market-driven clean technology energy solution that will have a positive impact for millions of people in the years to come," said Jeremy P. Feakins, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at OTE Corporation.  

"While these first two OTEC plants are an important step in the right direction, in the near future we look forward to building additional OTEC plants with even higher capacity offering clean power generation, potable water production and sustainable food production," he added.