Scouring the Tropics for Thermal Energy | Renewable Energy News Article

The world's largest untapped source of solar energy doesn't lie on the vast sands of the Sahara or even atop the high chaparral of the desert Southwest. Instead, it stretches across at least 23 million square miles of earth's tropical oceans; the uppermost layers of which make a prime natural source of thermal energy.

Regardless of time of day or cloud cover, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)promises to harness this thermal sea-based resource year round.
OTEC production converts heat energy from seawater into kinetic energy using the ocean’s naturally steep temperature gradient.  It’s this juxtaposition of tropical (and sometimes subtropical) subsurface seawater at temperatures typically above 80 degrees F. and below 40 degrees F. that makes OTEC possible.