Abstract
Republic of Fiji and many other countries in the tropical and subtropical areas desire both electric power by the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and drinking water from desalinated seawater. Then, a hybrid OTEC system combined with a desalination plant by use of deep ocean water is under consideration. For actual construction of the OTEC system, the choice of location is essentially important. In this paper, oceanographic data of seawater temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen obtained off the coast of Suva of the Viti Levu Island of the Fiji islands in the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of December 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999 are reported as well as bottom topography. The renewable energy available from the exclusive economic zone in the Fiji islands is estimated based on the oceanographic data obtained. Estimates of renewable energy by the two methods give about 120 and 1959 times as much as the current electric power in the Republic of Fiji, respectively.
