Optimal design of the ocean thermal energy conversion systems involving weather and energy demand variations

Ocean thermal energy conversion systems (OTEC) represent an attractive economic alternative in communities allocated in coastal areas for producing electric utilities reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions. This power generation technology uses the temperature difference between the deep cold water and warm surface water of the ocean to produce electricity using the principles of the Rankine cycle. This paper presents a Non-Linear Programming (NLP) multi-period and multi-objective model for the analysis of OTEC systems. The multi-objective approach consists in to maximize the exergy efficiency of the cycle while the total annual cost of the system is minimized. Variations on solar resources availability, energy demands, and ambient conditions are addressed considering hourly and seasonal profiles from a given housing complex allocated on the Pacific Coast from Mexico.