Environmental Impact Assessment of the Operation of an Open Cycle OTEC 1MWe Power Plant in the Cozumel Island, Mexico

Enrique Celestino Carrera Chan,Juan Francisco Bárcenas Graniel,María Fernanda Sabido Tun,Estela Cerezo Acevedo

doi:10.5772/intechopen.91179

Abstract

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was made for the operation of a 1MWe open-cycle OTEC plant on Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo. Due to its bathymetric characteristics and its proximity to the population center, the ideal location for the placement of the OTEC plant is in the western coastal area of the island. An environmental inventory was developed in which the susceptible factors to be impacted were described (air, soil, water, landscape, geology and flora). The essential components of the OC-OTEC PLANT operation process were studied: vacuum pump, flash evaporator, turbine, condenser and pipes. An impact matrix (Leopold matrix) was created, which prompts to impacts on the environment list, generated by the OC-OTEC PLANT operation: CO2 emissions; nutrients dragged to the surface; artificial reef effect/contamination by heavy metal salts; drag and compression of organisms; redistribution of oceanic water bodies; impacts by organic antifouling chemicals; noise; illumination; turtle nesting alteration; brine discharges; cause significant public controversy; alteration and interruption of migration routes; and waste, among others. Once the most significant impacts were assessed through the Leopold matrix, corrective and preventive measures were established on those actions, in order to minimize their negative impact on the environment.

Highlights

The methodology used for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the operation of the open cycle (OC)-Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant project is an adaptation of the one proposed by the author Gómez Orea (1998) [3], which has 4 phases in which the environmental impacts resulting from the interaction of activities that are developed theoretically during the extraction of the operating water resource of an OC-OTEC PLANT are identified, characterized, assessed and interpreted, as well as the rejection of water that comes from the plant and that goes toward ocean mass and other secondary activities that are broken down during maintenance and operation
This site was located in the western coastal area of Cozumel Island, located at km 3, South Coast, South Hotel Zone, of San Miguel de Cozumel, belonging to the municipality of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
In order to select the ideal physical positioning site of the OC-OTEC PLANT, a series of criteria were taken into account, which will be detailed below: 3.1.1 Thermal gradient

Summary

Introduction

Energy is a conserved physical quantity, and the first law of thermodynamics states that energy can be transformed from one form to another but can be neither created nor destroyed. It is under this precept that we can argue that in nature there are endless ways to obtain energy by transforming it from a primary source. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the difference in temperature (thermal gradient) between the surface of the sea (the hot spot) and the waters of the deep sea. Mexico has a high thermal energy gradient; it is in a favorable location for ocean energy use, through the implementation of OTEC plants [2]

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