Offshore Engineering Society
The OES acts to promote interest and scholarship in both the scientific and applied aspects of offshore engineering.
- Date
- 03 September 2025
- Time
This event has now ended
Overview
First conceptualised in 1881, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) remains one of the most underdeveloped renewable energy technologies despite it’s significant potential. This presentation will cover the inception of OTEC and the implementation in Cuba, the foundational works undertaken in the 1970s by the United States Department of Energy, and, current operating OTEC plants.
As with all renewable technologies, commercialisation of this technology remains the key to future development. OTEC will be compared to other competing renewable energy technologies looking at the gap that OTEC fills in the tropics, where wind and solar suffer limitations.
Join Sam Johnston, CTO of Global OTEC, as he discusses the technical and engineering challenges facing OTEC development and the progress made in recent years; synergistic industries both onshore and offshore; and the future of OTEC technology.
Speaker
Sam Johnston
Global OTEC ltd
chief technical officer
Read more
Sam Johnston
Sam spent 6 years working in oil and gas as a mechanical engineer at an offshore engineering consultancy. He has worked across disciplines, but the main focus of his work was the design of swivel stacks and other mechanical components for single point mooring assets. In 2018 Sam started working for Global OTEC as a consultant, developing the concept design for Global OTEC’s first commercial floating OTEC system.
Sustainable Development Goals:
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