An Assessment of the Financial Feasibility of an OTEC Ecopark: A Case Study at Cozumel Island

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show how an OTEC Ecopark could provide comprehensive, sustainable, and quality products that satisfy the diverse needs of coastal communities in Mexico. An offshore 60 MW hybrid Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant is proposed, which will provide products that will not only fulfill the water, energy, and food needs of the coastal communities, but also energize the local blue economy. An assessment of the financial feasibility of the plant as well as a comparative analysis against other forms of energy generation was carried out. The methodology section includes a market description, literature review for the technical design, methods for mitigating socio-environmental risks, and an analysis of operational risks. To determine financial feasibility, the CAPEX, OPEX and annual revenue, including the sale of CELs and carbon credits, were evaluated. The Internal Rate of Return suggests that the system would pay for itself in year 5 of the system’s 30-year life. The methodology used for this case study, with site-specific adaptations, can be applied to other coastal communities across the globe.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion: Technological Readiness and Indonesia Progress

“…The combination of DOW and surface ocean water is done because of the temperature-sensitive nature of sea grapes. Following the development, an eco-park will be built in Mexico, to meet the growing food demand around Cozumel Island, Mexico (Tobal-Cupul et al, 2022). This will be done by developing OTEC-Offshore Seaweed Aquaculture through the cultivation of Ulva spp.…”

Deployment of sustainable off-grid marine renewable energy systems in Mexico

“…However, distributed generation (on-site generation) has been gaining importance as renewable energies are developed (Gorr-Pozzi et al, 2021). Off-grid systems and mini-grids or microgrids can generate electricity efficiently Gorr-Pozzi et al, 2021;Olmedo-González et al, 2021;Tobal-Cupul et al, 2022). Note: The power units are "normalized" because the graph only represents the power variation considering a minimum power generation of 0.5 units.…”

“…Capacity Factor (%) (Garduño-Ruiz et al, 2021;Gorr-Pozzi et al, 2021;IEA-OES, 2022;Tobal-Cupul et al, 2022) Off grid system viability (Power rating) (Sheng et al, 2017;IRENA, 2019IRENA, , 2020Gorr-Pozzi et al, 2021) Efficiency (W/m 2 ) (Alcérreca-Huerta et al, 2019;Hernández-Fontes et al, 2019) Environmental Climate change potential (gCO2 equiv/kWh) (Rau and Baird, 2018;Paredes et al, 2019;Ma et al, 2022;Smoot, 2022;Tobal-Cupul et al, 2022) Affection to threatened ecosystem (% of affection) Exclusion zone (m 2 ) (Kim et al, 2012;Gourvenec et al, 2022;Hernández Galvez et al, 2022) Frontiers in Energy Research frontiersin.org contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.…”

“…FIGURE 1 (A) Mean monthly variability for different MREs in Cozumel and Baja California. Data taken from CEMIE-Oceano research(Garduño-Ruiz et al, 2021;Gorr-Pozzi et al, 2021;Olmedo-González et al, 2021;Tobal-Cupul et al, 2022). Note: The power units are "normalized" because the graph only represents the power variation considering a minimum power generation of 0.5 units.…”

Economic Viability Analysis for an OTEC Power Plant at San Andrés Island

“…They concluded that OTEC systems are economically viable in regions where the surface seawater temperature is greater than 25 • C. On the other hand, Ref. [31] presents the design of an OTEC Ecopark consisting of a 60 MW OTEC system coupled to a marine aquaculture farm located near the Island of Cozumel. The proposed system meets part of the needs of coastal communities for energy production, desalinated water and food production.…”