Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) - Cold Water Depth (Annual Average)

This shapefile represents annual average cold water depth recordings.

The cold water is defined by locating the depth that leads to the greatest average annual net power at each location when depth and its corresponding ?T are input into the power equation. This optimization balances power gained by obtaining colder water from deeper locations against power lost by transporting the water upward through a longer pipe. Input depth and temperature values are obtained from the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and are reported at discrete depth levels. The cut-off for maximum cold water depth is 1000 m.

Data were processed and converted to shapefile format by NREL for the [Ocean Thermal Extractable Energy Visualization](http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/1055457/1055457.pdf)

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