New Power Station Will Generate Electricity From Ocean's Heat, Provide Resort 100 Percent Of Energy Needs [VIDEO]

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has its name attached to a sustainable energy project in the South China Sea that seems rather afield for a firm more known for its aviation and missile technologies.

When finished, the Lockheed Martin design will reportedly be the world's largest offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) pilot power plant. Lockheed Martin will complete the project with the Beijing-based Reignwood Group.

The 10-megawatt offshore plant will use heat from ocean water to supply 100 percent of the power needed to run a resort to be built by the Reignwood Group.

Ocean thermal energy conversion draws on the natural temperature gradient that forms in tropical oceans worldwide. According to Smithsonian magazine, "The surface of the ocean, heated by the Sun, is much warmer than the water deeper down. OTEC plants use the warm surface water to boil a liquid with a really low boiling point in a low-pressure container to form steam. This steam then drives a turbine, generating electricity. Colder water from deeper down is pulled up in a pipe, and by having this cold water pass by the pipe containing the steam, the steam is condensed back into a liquid. The liquid flows around, is heated by the warm surface water, and turns into steam once more-on and on, generating electricity from the temperature gradient in the ocean."

The idea is fairly old - it was suggested by the French in 1881 -- but the technology to make the idea into a workable reality has only begun to emerge.

According to a press statement, the OTEC technology is well-suited to island and coastal communities where energy transportation costs typically make other sources of power very expensive. The process provides a native power source to areas, and, like other renewable energy technologies, OTEC plants will be clean, sustainable and powered by free fuel.

In addition to being a clean, renewable energy source, OTEC technology is also base load, meaning it can produce energy 24/seven, unlike solar power, for instance, which is only useful during daylight.

But there is some environmental concern even over OTEC, particularly the consequences to the local marine ecosystem if cold water brought up from the deep is dumped out onto surface waters, which would trigger an algae bloom. Smithsonian reports this can be avoided if the cool water is dumped at 70 meters or below.