Akuo Energy seeks EIB financing for NEMO

Akuo Energy is seeking project financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to develop NEMO, a 16 MW floating barge hosting an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system, moored some 5 km off the west coast of Martinique, France.

More details about the total project investment and the EIB financing package have not been disclosed.

In July 2014, the NEMO project, developed jointly by Akuo Energy and DCNS, has been announced as one of the winner of the European NER 300 call for proposals. NEMO was granted a €72 million subsidy.

OTEC is based on what is known as the Rankine cycle. This technology relies on a temperature difference of at least 20°C between cooler deep waters and warmer shallow waters. This difference is used to vaporize a working fluid circulating in a closed circuit, which in turn spins a turbine coupled to a generator.

The generator produces stable, continuous electric power, every day and around the clock. It is hard to overstate OTEC’s potential. In the Intertropical Convergence Zone, over 50 countries possess the necessary thermal potential (temperature difference), and are paying prohibitively high energy bills due to their remoteness and the price of imported fossil fuels.