Otec aff/neg otec aff

1AC --- Plan Text

The United States federal government should provide financial incentives for the development and use of offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion technology.

1AC --- Solvency

Contention __: Solvency

Offshore installation most effective- only the federal government has capabilities to solve

Moore 6 [Bill Moore, discussion with Dr. Hans Jurgen Krock, the founder of OCEES on the revival of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. April 12, 2006 http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1008]
Although the optimal area for the deployment of OTEC power-islands lies in a 40 degree wide band around the planet's middle, it is, according to Krock, an area equivalent to all the earth's landmass. While onshore installations like the one in Hawaii have their place in providing island communities with power, water, air conditioning and aquaculture, OCEES believes the real potential is offshore. The limiting factor for onshore is the size and length of the pipe needed to reach deep, cold water. Offshore production requires relatively short pipes that can be much larger in diameter that drop straight down below the platform.

OTEC isn’t being invested in now because of high startup costs

Daniel 2k [Thomas H. Daniel, Ph.D, The Natural energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, 1/2000, “Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)” UN Atlas of the Oceans”]
OTEC has tremendous potential to supply the world’s energy . This potential is estimated to be about 1013 watts of baseload power generation [20]. However, OTEC systems must overcome the significant hurdle of high initial capital costs for construction and the perception of significant risk compared to conventional fossil fuel plants. These obstacles can be overcome only by progressing beyond the present experimental testing and evaluation of small-scale demonstration plants to the construction of pilot-sized and, eventually, commerical-sized plants to demonstrate economic feasibility. As a UN Development Program study determined, the confidence to build commercial-sized OTEC plants will not develop until investors have the demonstration of a 5-megawatt pilot plant operating for 5 years. This demonstration will require a significant investment with little potential near-term return. For the near-term future development of OTEC systems, isolated niche markets with high conventional energy costs and a need for energy independence may provide a viable venue for market penetration in the size range of 1 MW to 15 MW. These may provide the demonstration required for penetration into larger markets where economically competitive plants of 50 - 400 MW will be viable

Funding key to solve—the financial sector is ready

World Energy Council 8 [World Energy Council, Don Lennard “Survey of Energy Resources 2007: The Way Ahead and the Market” 2008, http://www.worldenergy.org/publications/survey_of_energy_resources_2007/ocean_thermal_energy_conversion/771.asp]
As with most new technologies, the financial sector is slow to involve itself until one or more representative demonstration plants have operated successfully - and this has proved to be true in the past for OTEC technology. However, with the progressive reduction in risks - for example the mooring of a floating OTEC plant will now be an application of 'routine' offshore oil and gas experience - a number of more enlightened financial bodies are now prepared to become involved at this relatively early stage of development. Other funding sources would include agencies such as the World Bank or European Development Bank and a further potential source of funding is possible through the Lomé and Cotonou Agreements between the European Union and the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) States, many of which are prime candidates to use OTEC power. In Europe both the European Commission and the industrially-based Maritime Industries Forum examined OTEC opportunities with relevance to DOWA in general rather than just OTEC, and the UK published its Foresight document for the marine sector, looking five to twenty years ahead, and both OTEC and DOWA were included in the energy section of the paper. It is significant that the emphasis in the recommendations from all three European groupings has, again, been on the funding and construction of a plant in the 5-10 MW range. Current US activity is concentrating on an Indian Ocean island site, and it is perhaps noteworthy that both Japanese and British evaluations continue to identify Fijian prime sites, one each on the two largest islands of that country. The worldwide market for all renewables has been estimated for the timescales from 1990 to 2020 and 2050, with three scenarios and, not surprisingly, all show significant growth. Within those total renewable figures, opportunities exist for the construction of a significant amount of OTEC capacity, even though OTEC may account for only a small percentage of total global electricity generating capacity for some years.  Estimates have been made by French, Japanese, British and American workers in the field, suggesting worldwide installed power for up to a thousand OTEC plants by the year 2010, of which 50% would be no larger than 10 MW, and less than 10% would be of 100 MW size. On longer timescales, the demand for OTEC in the Asia/Pacific region has been estimated at 20 GW in 2020 and 100 GW in 2050 (OECD, 1999). It has to be said that some of these numbers seem optimistic, with realisation depending on the successful operation of a number of demonstrator plants at an early date. In summary, however, it can realistically be claimed that the economic commercialisation of OTEC/DOWA is 'now' - nearly all the technology is established, and the greatest concentration of effort seems logically to be aimed at lining up an increased range of suitable funding sources.

Plan sets the US as a leader in OTEC developed – Gets modeled globally

Moore 2006 [Bill, citing Dr. Hans Krock, founder of OCEES, April 12, "OTEC Resurfaces", http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=1008]
"The United States is the best placed of any country in the world to do this," he contends. "The United States is the only country in the world of any size whose budget for its navy is bigger than the budget for its army." ¶ It's his contention that this will enable America to assume a leadership position in OTEC technology, allowing it to deploy plants in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific, but he offers a warming.¶ "If we are stupid enough not to take advantage of this, well then this will be China's century and not the American century."¶ Krock is currently negotiating with the U.S. Navy to deploy first working OTEC plant offshore of a British-controlled island in the Indian Ocean -- most likely Diego Garcia though he wouldn't confirm this for security purposes.¶ He is also working with firms in Britain and Netherlands and will be headed to China for talks with the government in Beijing.¶ "The Chinese know very well that they cannot build there futures on oil," he stated, noting that China's is investing large sums of money in a blue water navy. "The United States will be playing catch-up in this technology. We're here. We're willing to do it. We're doing it with the Navy." He expects to put his first plant to sea sometime in 2008 after constructing it, mostly likely, in Singapore.¶ "We simply have to look at the all the alternatives [to conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power] and this is, hands down, the only alternative that's big enough to replace oil."

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