White Paper on OTEC: A Comprehensive Review of Technology, Economics, Challenges, and Upscalling Scenarios (November 2024)

Date: May 08, 2026 at 17:59 GMT

This White Paper on OTEC  was produced within the scope of PLOTEC, an EU-funded project. 

This white paper provides a comprehensive review of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), examining its technological development, economic viability, and potential for large-scale deployment. It highlights OTEC's capacity to provide continuous renewable electricity, particularly in tropical island and coastal regions, alongside complementary applications such as freshwater production, aquaculture, and cooling.

The document reviews existing economic studies, assessing investment costs, the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and the potential for cost reductions through technological innovation and economies of scale. It also explores upscaling scenarios and examines the main components of OTEC systems, identifying key technical, environmental, and economic challenges that currently limit commercial deployment.

Finally, the white paper presents mitigation strategies and research priorities to overcome these barriers, emphasising the importance of demonstration projects, improved component efficiency, innovative financing mechanisms, and collaboration between industry, academia, and governments. It provides a technical and economic foundation for understanding OTEC's potential and the steps needed to advance the technology towards commercialisation.