News Highlight
National Institute of Ocean Technology to set up a green, self-powered desalination plant in Lakshadweep.
Key Takeaway
- The NIOT provides potable water in six islands of Lakshadweep using Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination technology.
- Continuing its continuous initiative to provide potable water in six Lakshadweep islands using Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology.
- The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai aims to eliminate pollutants from this procedure.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
- About
- The National Institute of Ocean Technology, an autonomous institute under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), is establishing an OTEC.
- It is being built at Kavaratti, Lakshadweep’s capital, and has a 65 kilowatt capacity (kW).
- The plant will power a one lakh litre per day low-temperature thermal desalination facility that turns seawater into potable water.
- OTEC generates energy by exploiting temperature variations between the ocean surface and deep ocean waters.
- Because the oceans cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface, they constitute massive heat stores.
- Working
- As the sun’s energy heats the ocean’s surface water.
- Surface water in tropical regions can be substantially warmer than deep water.
- This temperature differential can be exploited to generate power and desalinate seawater.
- Additionally, OTEC systems generate energy using a temperature difference (of at least 77°F).
- A working fluid is pushed through an evaporator containing warm surface water, and the vaporised fluid powers a turbine/generator.
- The vaporised fluid is then cooled in a condenser using cold ocean water pumped deeper.
- OTEC systems employ seawater as the working fluid and can produce desalinated water from condensed water.
- India’s OTEC Potential
- With roughly 2000 kilometres of shoreline length along the South Indian coast.
- India is geographically well-placed to create ocean thermal energy.
- Temperature differences of more than 20°C are available all year.
- The overall OTEC potential in India is projected to be 180,000 MW, with parasitic losses accounting for 40% of gross electricity.
Advantages of OTEC
- Firstly, it is a form of renewable energy.
- Secondly, it is an environmentally friendly technology for supplying electricity that does not emit greenhouse emissions, and
- Thirdly, it can provide desalinated water to island communities with scarce freshwater sources.
- Significance for India: India is geographically well-positioned for deploying this system, with a total OTEC capacity of 180,000 MW.
Disadvantages of OTEC
- Firstly, it requires a steady supply of cold and warm water.Â
- As a result, OTEC plants can only be developed in tropical climates.
- Secondly, it is built in the ocean and may harm onshore marine ecosystems and coral reefs because this technology has only been tested on a small scale; it is a capital expenditure.
- Thirdly, continuous cold and warm seawater discharge can alter marine ecosystems’ habitats.
Conclusion
- There is a need to make desalination technology more inexpensive, hence enhancing the practicality of desalination for fulfilling SDG 6.
- Technical advancements with low environmental and economic implications are required.
- Innovative financial methods to support the long-term viability of desalination plants will almost certainly be necessary.
Pic Courtesy: The Hindu
Content Source: The Hindu