Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§9004 Pilot and demonstration plants

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 98— - OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT › § 9004

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary may start a program to design, build, and operate ocean thermal energy conversion plants with good measuring instruments. The goal is to show the technology works and could replace nonrenewable fuels. At least two independent projects must be picked by competition. The program must aim for multiple pilot and demonstration plants totaling at least 100 megawatts of electrical capacity (or an equal energy product) by 1986. The plants must supply steady electricity to land utilities or produce commercially useful energy products and run long enough to gather performance and reliability data. When giving money, the Secretary must give full consideration to projects serving U.S. coastal states, territories, and possessions and should seek fair cost-sharing when appropriate.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §9004

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary is authorized to initiate a program to design, construct, and operate well instrumented ocean thermal energy conversion facilities of sufficient size to demonstrate the technical feasibility and potential economic feasibility of utilizing the various forms of ocean thermal energy conversion to displace nonrenewable fuels. To achieve the goals of this section and to facilitate development of a strong industrial basis for the application of ocean thermal energy conversion system technology, at least two independent parallel demonstration projects shall be competitively selected.

(b)The specific goals of the demonstration program shall include at a minimum—

(1)the demonstration of ocean thermal energy conversion technical feasibility through multiple pilot and demonstration plants with a combined capacity of at least one hundred megawatts of electrical capacity or energy product equivalent by the year 1986;

(2)the delivery of baseload electricity to utilities located on land or the production of commercially attractive quantities of energy product; and

(3)the continuous operation of each pilot and demonstration facility for a sufficient period of time to collect and analyze system performance and reliability data.

(c)In providing any financial assistance under this section, the Secretary shall (1) give full consideration to those projects which will provide energy to United States offshore States, its territories, and its possessions and (2) seek satisfactory cost-sharing arrangements when he deems such arrangements to be appropriate.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 9004

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73