抄録
This study examines ways in which small OTEC plants, of perhaps less than 10MW, could be deployed in Indonesia, while being competitive in the absence of economy of scale. Two types of niche markets are investigated: on one hand, remote islands of about 100km^2 with populations of the order of 10,000; on the other hand, touristic resorts that also benefit from electricity savings incurred with deep seawater air-conditioning (A/C). It is established that the existence of niche markets critically depends upon favorable financing terms (discount rates of about 10%), and in the case of resorts, upon moderate inflation; this latter condition allows savings from deep seawater A/C to have a beneficial impact at realistic resort development levels (<1,000 to 2,000 hotel rooms). Finally, special plant designs taking advantage of the exceptional Indonesian OTEC resource are formulated, which could decrease investment risks associated with the OTEC seawater systems, without overly compromising global cost effectiveness. This idea is quantitatively assessed for a 5MW floating plant, while some of its potential shortcomings are also discussed.
