The Global OTEC Group, a pioneer in ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) based in the UK, along with the Canary Islands Ocean Platform (PLOCAN), has been chosen to study locations in the Bahamas for the utilization of ocean thermal energy.
Project Goals and Energy Challenges in the Bahamas
This request from the Bahamian government aims to create a documented basis for decision-making regarding the advancement of the OTEC project for its implementation. According to Global OTEC, the main technical partner, over 90% of electricity in the Bahamas is generated from imported diesel and heavy fuel oil, exposing households and businesses to fluctuations in international fuel prices and one of the highest electricity tariffs in the Caribbean.
Feasibility Study and Environmental Impacts
The feasibility study will evaluate the integration with seawater reverse osmosis systems, regional cooling with seawater, and cooling data centers along with the main electricity generation system. This project will also address concerns and considerations related to environmental and social issues.
This work, requested by Expertise France and funded by the European Union, will be implemented under the Euroclima program as part of the EU's support for the energy sector, recognized as a key area in the Global Gateway investment agenda in the region.
The project is based on a temperature and salinity measurement campaign conducted in 2023 by NOAA near Eleuthera. This campaign utilized an autonomous diver to collect profiles from the surface to a depth of 900 meters, confirming the presence of a significant thermal gradient in the water column.
According to Dan Gracchus, founder and CEO of Global OTEC, "Every renewable technology can generate electricity, but only one of them also provides a valuable cooling source and drinking water as a byproduct. This is the difference of OTEC from other technologies in tropical island contexts. In the Bahamas, you have a massive thermal resource, an underwater connection, and a government willing to do preliminary work through advanced studies. Our role in the coming year is to determine with real data and engineering whether a site can support a unique installation for the Caribbean."
This initiative follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Global OTEC and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) in June 2025 and includes the technical leadership of the PLOTEC project, which has designed and tested the structure of a storm-resistant OTEC platform for deployment in vulnerable waters.
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