OUR FINAL DAY IN HONG KONG....A Quick Update on OTEC and, Tomorrow, on to Seoul, Korea

Yesterday, I featured the West Kowloon Cultural District as the future of Hong Kong.  Here is a video with details.

Breakfast was at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, of a bowl of noodles, with orange juice and cappuccino.

Had a nap.  Went to dinner in our Club Lounge.  From twilight to night.  Note that there is air pollution in Hong Kong.  Quite serious, as caused by industry and vehicles.  There are also 7.6 million people here on space much smaller than the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  Never seemed to go away during the day.

That spherical gold structure is the Golden Egg, or Charles K. Kao Auditorium, locatd in the Hong Kong Science Park.

First course, two soups, plus seared tuna soba.  Springbank single malt scotch.  Costs around $250/bottle in the USA.

Main dish was Vietnamese Hang Nha Noodles, and salad, with a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Desserts.

That was about it for last night, for we will be picked up at 10AM to be taken to the airport tomorrow.  Walked an all-time low 542 steps yesterday.

I've pretty much lost track of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, a marine renewable energy technology, but, apparently there seems to now be some movement in the commercialization of OTEC.

• It was 1979, Lockheed had just succeeded in a demonstration of their Mini-OTEC platform at-sea next to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, off the Big Island.

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  I had just come to work for U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga in DC, and my first task was to create some legislation to promote this technology.
• I worked with Rick Woldin of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to draft the first OTEC bill.
• Officially introduced by Senator Matsunaga, quickly passed into law and signed by President Jimmy Carter.
• I sought some confirmation from Google AI.

In 1979, significant legislative activity regarding Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) research and development (R&D) centered on bills introduced by 

Senator Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii. 

Senator Spark Matsunaga introduced the first major OTEC R&D and hydrogen-related bills in the U.S. Senate following the 1979 success of "Mini-OTEC," the first OTEC plant to produce net power.

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  The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation requested studies on OTEC during this period to inform legislative goals.
• This legislative momentum directly led to the passage of two cornerstone laws in 1980:
  • The Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-320): Established a licensing regime for commercial OTEC facilities.
  • The Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Research, Development, and Demonstration Act (P.L. 96-310): Set ambitious national goals for OTEC deployment, including a target of 10,000 megawatts of electrical capacity by 1999. 

• 
  When I returned to the University of Hawaii in 1982, I helped form the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research.  A decade later, our team built and tested the first open cycle OTEC facility at the Natural Energy of Hawaii Laboratory.

• 
  Various companies, particularly Lockheed Martin, led the way to commercialization, which never came, for the price of oil dropped from more than $100/barrel to less than $50/barrel.  Today, around $65/barrel.
• 
  I nevertheless continued my activity in this field, and names like Luis Vega, Ted Johnson, Yasuyuki Ikegami and Lars Golmen come to mind as people I worked with to develop the technology.  But I largely dropped out a quarter century ago.  Photo of Yasu and I.  

• 
  I recall giving an OTEC talk in Norway a long time ago, and last year, Lars dropped by to see me in Honolulu, and indicated that he was on his way to Malaysia to attend an OTEC conference.
• He recently sent me some details of that gathering.
• You can communicate with him to get his presentation:  lars@runde.no
• I asked Google AI about the current status of OTEC:

In 2026, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is transitioning from pilot-scale demonstrations to its first commercial-scale deployments. Key developments include:

• 
  Commercial Milestone in India: The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is scheduled to commence operations of a 60-kilowatt OTEC plant in Kavaratti, Lakshadweep. This facility will power a desalination plant producing 150,000 litersof fresh water daily, replacing diesel-dependent systems.
• 
  Expansion in Japan: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) aims to commercialize OTEC in 2026, with plans to open a 1-MW power station on Kume Island. This project leverages deep ocean water for secondary uses like aquaculture and air conditioning.
• 
  Atlantic Sea Trials: The PLOTEC consortium is conducting trials of "Don," a storm-proof OTEC platform off the Canary Islands. Performance data from these tests, expected in early 2026, will guide the design of future full-scale systems for island grids.
• 
  Tropical Island Initiatives: Global OTEC is fast-tracking a 1.5-MW floating systemnamed "Dominique" for São Tomé and Príncipe, aimed at replacing diesel imports with clean baseload power.
• Global Market Outlook: The OTEC market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 20.64%, driven by the need for 24/7 renewable energy in tropical regions. 

For detailed technical insights and future roadmaps, you can refer to reports from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) or the Ocean Energy Systems

• 
  During my three-year assignment in the U.S. Senate from 1979-82, I also drafted the first hydrogen bill, which became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act.
• Combining the OTEC and Hydrogen fields led to my creation of the Blue Revolution.
• More recently I gave a TEDx presentation titled, The Time for the Blue Revolution is Now.

To close, just another video of how China has gone futuristic.  Is Chongquing (1130 miles southwest of Beijing) a city already in the Year 3000?  

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