Ocean Thermal resource

Temperature differential energy( Ocean Thermal)  refers to thermal energy resulting in the difference of water temperature between the seawater on the surface of ocean and in the deep sea. The majority of radiation energy from the sun can be conversed to hot water by the surface of the ocean and stored in upper of the ocean.

In another aspect, seawater, which the temperature is close to the freezing point, has the tendency flowing from the polar region to equator by itches in the depth of no more than 1000m. As a consequence, vertical water temperature differential up to 20°C has been formed perennially in the tropical and subtropical sea area, which can be utilized to realize heating circulation and power generation.

It is theoretically estimated that the potential of water temperature differential energy in the world is in the scale of 10⁹kW. Estimation shows that temperature differential energy is 1.5´10⁸kW in the coastal area of China, according to the information of seawater temperature, among which 99% are in the south sea. The surface water temperature in the south sea is perennially above 26°C, its deeper temperature (deeper than 800m) is always keeping at 5°C, and the temperature differential is 21°C. This area is rich in the temperature differential energy.