Lockheed Martin gets funding for ocean thermal technology

Defence contractor Lockheed Martin has been given $1.2m (£707,000) by the Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate ocean thermal energy technology.

The technology involves exploiting the thermodynamic difference between the warmth of water from the surface of the ocean and the coldness of the depths.

Waters of two different temperatures are pumped through a heat exchanger which vaporises and then condenses the water, producing steam in the process, which can drive a turbine.

“Our independent research and development work to date has shown it to be technically feasible,” said Denise Saiki, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Undersea Systems business unit. “The next step is to demonstrate it on a commercial scale and this DOE contract will help accelerate our progress towards that goal."

It is not a new idea, but previous attempts have been hampered by the problem of getting water from the bottom of the ocean to the surface.

Lockheed will demonstrate cold water pipe fabrication using modern fibreglass and low-cost composite material manufacturing methods that it hopes will help achieve this efficiently.