The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor BEC's ocean thermal energy partner yesterday revealed it plans to develop an eco-industrial park in the Bahamas, leveraging its project into technology and export spin-offs that would make this nation "a world leader in green technology and green energy". Jeremy Feakins, chairman and chief executive of Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTEC), told Tribune Business that the company's "vision" was to emulate the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA), and its Ocean Science and Technology Park, in the Bahamas, having already assessed potential sites at Clifton Pier and in Grand Bahama. He explained that the deep sea water employed by OTEC's ocean thermal energy plants could be employed by a host of spin-off industries, such as bottled water producers, agriculture, mariculture and aquaculture, potentially creating a more diversified Bahamian economy and new job opportunities. The first OTEC plant, earmarked for a site near Clifton Pier, has already been designed, and the company is now working with its contractor, DCO Energy, to finalise the costs and the price at which it will sell electricity to BEC as per the terms of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Telling Tribune Business that he was "supremely confident" that OTEC's ocean thermal energy plant would produce electricity at a "much lower" cost than BEC's existing generation capacity, Mr Feakins said the plant was also looking to exploit the waste heat produced by Clifton Pier. Looking to the long-term, and the potential spin-offs from OTEC's partnership with BEC if it comes to full fruition, Mr Feakins told Tribune Business: "Our vision is to open an eco-industrial park similar to NELHA, the National Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, which is on the big island of Hawaii. "There is space available in the Bahamas to put up such an industrial park, both at Clifton Pier and we've been looking at some places in Grand Bahama, too." Noting that the Ocean Science and Technology Park hosted tenants involved in aquaculture, mariculture, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, nutrients, bottled water production and renewable energy, he added: "There's a whole slate of products that are being developed using the deep sea water brought up through the pipes" of OTEC's original ocean thermal plant in Hawaii. Research by Tribune Business shows that NELHA's Park includes Black Pearls Inc, a company that has developed hatchery technology for oysters; Cyanotech Corporation, an entity that produces natural nutrients using microalgae technology; Kona Cold Lobsters; Ocean Rider, a commercial seahorse farm; and Kona Coast Shellfish, a shellfish nursery/hatchery. There are at least another 20-30 tenants in the Park. "That's the vision I've got for the Bahamas," Mr Feakins told Tribune Business. "It's not only about getting you guys weaned off fossil fuels. It's about the spin-offs which that provides; the technology opportunities, the export opportunities from all the industries I've probably just mentioned. "On the big island of Hawaii, bottled water is Hawaii's biggest export. There's no reason why we can't do something like that for the Bahamas. There's a whole bunch of things we can do to make a difference in the Bahamas, and I'm seriously excited about this." Noting that the US already imported the majority of the seafood that it consumed, Mr Feakins added: "What a great opportunity for the Bahamas to use the nutrient-rich sea water to set up an industrial park and create aquaculture.... I have had some discussions with local Bahamian businesses about aquaculture." He declined to name those companies. While OTEC itself did not get involved in these industries, Mr Feakins said the company wanted "to be helpful, guiding the Government, guiding economic development and making things happen. It's our number one focus". NELHA, he added, was started in the early 1990s as a US Energy Department-sponsored project. Many of OTEC's personnel had been on NELHA's development team, and a number of the park's businesses had "been around for a long time". Disclosing that "there is a tremendous amount of excitement, especially from the Government" on OTEC's proposed plant, Mr Feakins said that apart from the renewable energy and power cost side, the interest of Earl Deveaux, minister of the environment, had been "piqued" by the agriculture and aquaculture spin-off potential when they met in September 2011. The MoU between BEC and OTEC could lead to two multi-million dollar ocean thermal energy conversion plants being built in the Bahamas, together supplying close to 10 per cent - or 20 Mega Watts (MW) of BEC's generation needs. Describing the MoU process as "ongoing", Mr Feakins told Tribune Business: "Where we are in the process now is that we have designed the plant, and are working with DCO Energy to cost out the components for the plant. "We should have that data available in a few weeks, and at that point we will be able to calculate the price of electricity we will sell to BEC. I am supremely confident the cost of that electricity will come in much lower than what BEC's is right now." OTEC was now waiting for suppliers of equipment such as heat exchangers and turbines to respond to its request for prices, so it could finalise a total cost for the ocean thermal energy plant's construction. The first plant will be located "close up to" BEC's existing Clifton Pier facility, as OTEC wanted to "use some of the waste heat from the existing power plant". Mr Feakins explained that for every additional one degree of heat, the plant would be able to produce 10 per cent more power. Site visits and discussions with BEC engineers had already taken place, and OTEC was looking to train the Corporation's staff to operate the ocean thermal plant. "Our plan is to work with BEC and make sure they're fully trained up to run it, and involved at every step of the way," the OTEC chairman said. "One of the important things for BEC workers to understand is that we're not coming into displace anybody." As for where the OTEC project with BEC would place the Bahamas, Mr Feakins told Tribune Business: "The Bahamas is going to be a leader, both in terms of having the largest Seawater District Cooling plant in the world [Baha Mar], and it will be the first in the world with an ocean thermal energy conversion plant. "And, if we can figure out a way to do agriculture and some of the spin-off technologies, you'll be able to prove a classic example of how an island nation reduced its dependency on fossil fuels and fossil fuel pricing, which is a huge problem, and can get into economic development and export opportunities, with more jobs for Bahamians, more revenue for the Government. "It really puts the Bahamas on the map as a leader in green technology and green energy. It is unique that the Bahamian government stepped and thought to become the first country in the world to have a large OTEC plant, such as the one we are building in the Bahamas. That's a world first."