OTEC could significantly improve quality of life in SIDS, where the current cost of power is at a premium and the benefits of desalinated water, mariculture and air conditioning would have a major impact. Further research into environmental impacts is necessary, but if the technology is shown to be benign, the development of OTEC for SIDS should be a priority. Plants in developed tropical sites that face high power prices should also be encouraged, if appropriate sites at which environmental damage will be negligible can be found. Because the governments of the SIDS that would benefit most from OTEC cannot afford such a high capital investment, governments of developed states should contribute to the research effort and investment for OTEC in developing countries. Appropriate measures should be taken to control environmental impacts including:
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Refraining from siting OTEC plants in sensitive areas including prime fishing grounds, spawning areas, and sensitive reef habitats.
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Making use of discharge for ancillary benefits, which prevents discharges from altering local water temperature significantly.
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Carefully regulating the use of toxins such as ammonia and chlorine, and avoiding coating the plants with toxic hull coatings used on ships in harbors which are known to pollute the waters.
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Relying mainly on relatively small plants. While there may be economic benefits to scaling up, large-scale plants are more likely to damage a local community through discharge or impingement/entrainment. Also, benefits from economies of scale are likely to dwindle at the 50 MW scale [15]. Similarly, if several small OTEC plants are used these plants must be suitably spaced to prevent altering local ecology too significantly at any one site [6].