Members attending the IOA Core Group Meeting included Michel Gauthier of IFREMER, Don Lennard of OTEC Systems Ltd., Karl Pan from the IOA Secretariat, Shinya Takeno from OTECA and Mitsubishi, and Paul Yuen from the University of Hawaii. Luis Vega from PICHTR joined the group to report on activities in the USA. Core group members discussed recent activities in OTEC/DOWA, a charter for IOA, and the newsletter. Members visited state legislators and toured the Natural Energy Laboratory in Kona to see the 210kW open cycle OTEC experimental facility.
Don Lennard reported on activities of the European Community (EC) of the twelve nation European Economic Community. A Discussion Forum was established by the Commission to examine the EC Maritime Industries to improve competitiveness and to suggest appropriate methods to implement actions for such improvement. At its first meeting, the Forum set up four working groups: Economic Analysis; Research and Development; Safety and Environment; and Maritime Transport. The Forum's report was submitted late last year and accepted within a month. Several points in the report address OTEC specifically, mentioning the possibility of supporting an OTEC demonstration project.
Karl Pan discussed the ROC's current activities in OTEC, including the Multi-Product OTEC Project (MPOP) and the Master OTEC Plan for ROC (MOPR). MPOP is the design and construction of a 5 MWe OTEC pilot plant; geotechnical site investigations, research on cold water pipes, and economic analyses are underway.
A prestudy for the proposed MOPR is on-going. MOPR aims at the creation of large offshore OTEC power plants for the east coast of Taiwan. The ROC continues to serve as the IOA Secretariat, contributing the publishing and circulation of the newsletter.
Japan's OTECA representative Shinya Takeno reported that they have four working groups: cold water intake, power plant, OTEC multi-purpose utilization, oceanographic research institute concept. The cold water intake group has been doing a technical study of a pipeline for a 1000 kW plant.
The power plant group has been investigating a closed cycle system, including the optimum flow rate of water through the cold water pipe, an ammonia-water mixture for the working fluid (Kalina cycle), controlled sliding pressure and materials for the heat exchanger. For fiscal year 1991, the multi-purpose group looked at the recovery of rate metals from deep seawater using biotechnology; this year the group will examine production of freshwater using heat exchangers cooled with deep ocean water. The fourth group concluded that an International OTEC Oceanographic Research Institute is a place for researchers of the world to concentrate on research involving deep ocean water utilization.
Paul Yuen and Luis Vega discussed several United States ocean-related activities. Paul Yuen noted that in June of 1992, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cosponsored Ocean Resources 2000 at which participants from industry, government and academia discussed problems and opportunities presented by our ocean environments. Luis Vega reported that shakedown tests were continuing at the 210kW open cycle OTEC experimental facility in Keahole, Hawaii; he expects to have the facility operational in about one month.
Core group members met with State of Hawaii legislators to inform them about OTEC/DOWA activities world wide. The legislators enjoyed hearing about these activities and hoped that international cooperative efforts would be possible.