Leading U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin signed a contract on Wednesday to design the biggest power station fueled by differences in ocean temperatures, a 10-megawatt plant that would provide electricity for a new Asian resort.
The contract between Lockheed and Beijing-based Reignwood Group, a Chinese consumer products and lifestyle firm, is the initial 10-month stage in a 3-1/2-year effort to build the green energy electric plant, which would generate power using a process known as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).
"This is just more or less the tip of the iceberg and what both parties are most interested in is ultimately getting the plant built so we can offer it to other customers. And that's where the business is for Lockheed," said Dan Heller, vice president of new ventures for Lockheed's Mission Systems and Training unit.
Heller declined to say how much the contract is worth for Lockheed or to estimate the potential cost of constructing the facility, which uses a process that has been tested in smaller plants but has never been developed on a commercial scale.
Other companies and organizations are pursuing OTEC energy projects as well. But Heller said the facility planned for Reignwood would "be magnitudes larger than anybody else, including ourselves, have ever attempted."
Heller said the two firms agreed to an initial 10-month contract for design of the plant because of the uncertainty surrounding the ultimate cost of a small commercial-scale facility. He said the design phase would help clarify the cost.
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