GB2383978A

GB2383978A - Platform provided with a plurality of renewable energy converter systems

Info

Publication number: GB2383978A
Application number: GB0200579A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dominic Michaelis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-01-11
Filing date: 2002-01-11
Publication date: 2003-07-16
Anticipated expiration: 2022-01-11
Also published as: GB2383978B; GB0200579D0

Abstract

A moored floating or shore-based platform 11 is provided with a plurality of different renewable energy converter systems. The systems may include wave energy converters 12, wind generators 14 and 15, solar collectors (20, Fig 4), sea current turbines 16 and ocean thermal energy converters. The power generated by the systems may be cabled to nearby power grids or may be used in the hydrolysis of water to form oxygen and hydrogen for fuel cells. The platform may be hexagonal in plan view and several platforms may be joined to form a larger integrated structure (Fig 7). The platforms may provide facilities (29, Fig 5) for fish farming and may incorporate housing 35, warehousing and industrial units. A raft of joined platforms may be used for coastal protection and/or as a harbour for ships 34.

Description

ENERGY ISLAND This invention relates to an energy island structure designed to maximise renewable energy interception, collection and conversion.

Offshore marine energy collection systems have been proposed in diverse forms, for wave or tidal energy collection, for wind energy aerogenerators, for sea current underwater turbines and for solar collector fields. At the end of the nineteenth century, a French engineer, D'Arsonval, suggested generating energy by using the differential between tropical ocean temperatures at around 28 C and water pumped from great depths at 5 C, a system experimented by his successor Claude, and now generally known as OTEC, or Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.

OTEC systems have encountered difficulties due to the relatively small difference of temperature of surface and deep sea waters, but also to the significant amount of energy needed to pump cold water from the deep to activate the condenser, and to move large amounts of surface waters past the evaporator unit of the thermal cycle. It is the purpose of the energy island to assist such a generator system by bringing together other forms of energy to increase its efficiency and output, either by assisting the OTEC cycle or by producing supplementary energy.

According to the present invention, there is provided an energy island comprising a moored floating platform made up of hollow buoyant members constituting a platform which acts as the support for a number of renewable energy converter systems, the upper level of which is provided with a field of heliostats reflecting incoming solar radiation towards a single or a number of focal receivers, this field located above greenhouses constituting a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) level, the light permeable floor of which allows daylight to penetrate the water below sufficient for marine life and fish farming, a great diversity of alternative solar collector systems ranging from parabolic mirrors to photovoltaic cells being possible, the platform also designed to support an array of wind generators, and presenting a wave energy converter system on its windward sides, and below the water level a cowled sea current interceptor, possibly receiving and converting other energy sources such as geothermal or energy beamed from outer space, each producing energy that can be used independently or in association with an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system, the island being provided with waterways to its external edges allowing the flow, over optional temperature enhancing floating membranes, protected by wave energy converters, and ebb of warm surface sea water to and from a central OTEC energy generator operating on the difference of temperature between the warmer surface waters of warm seas and the colder water pumped from the depths by a single or number of plunger cold water pipes, the generating system provided with an underwater heat reservoir

storing any excess thermal energy from the solar collector field, allowing higher temperatures and therefore higher efficiences to the OTEC plant, the energies generated by these diverse systems combined to produce electricity for the grid, with possible conversion by hydrolysis to hydrogen and oxygen as energy sources for fuel cells and other energy systems, with the further benefits of distilled water production as a byproduct of the OTEC generating plant, as well as food from the CEA facility and marine produce from the underwater compartments, the platforms able to link together to produce larger power plants and able also to support housing for staff and new population centres, the platforms being disposed to provide shelter to harbours in their lee and to lands threatened by rough seas and rising water levels, and providing large quantities of energy, part of which can be directed to pump back eroded land and build any necessary waterfront protection.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which :- Figure 1 shows in perspective an energy island of hexagonal shape with wave, sea current, wind and central solar furnace with inlet and outlet surface water channels and the cold water plunger pipe, located in front of a tanker port, staff housing and underwater storage tanks of hydrogen, oxygen and distilled water.

Figure 2 shows the plan of an energy island Figure 3 shows a side view of an energy island Figure 4 shows a plan view of one segment of the energy island Figure 5 shows a side view of the same segment Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the same segment Figure 7 shows a grouping of 8 energy units in line, acting as breakwaters to a harbour located on their leeside, with two additional platforms for housing and warehousing Referring to the drawings, an energy island is constituted of a structure made up of a number of hollow floating members 10 making up a buoyant platform 11 shown in Fig I and Fig 2 of hexagonal shape, other plan shapes being possible providing they allow for linkages between modular units.

The windward edge or edges are provided with wave energy converters, WECs, 12 which serve the dual purpose of protecting the island from heavy seas, but also providing a valuable energy source, the particular

WEC system to be chosen from many available linear designs, the energy delivered left in some cases as hydraulic energy used to shift volumes of water and so not going through the energy losing process of electricity generation, to which end the wave energy can also be used.

The platform 11 is provided with a number of reinforced base pads 13 capable of supporting an array of wind aerogenerators, which, because the sea offers little resistance to wind, can be located at different heights, some close to the windward edge being at low level 14, whilst others on the leeward side can be placed at higher levels 15 to reduce interference, the supporting columns being formed of hydraulically adjustable sections allowing a change in aerogenerator height profile to match the characteristics of the winds.

Below the energy island platform is an array of cowled water driven turbines 16 forming a catenary section, each cowled turbine supported by its own cylindrical buoy 17, these in turn being secured to two, or a ring of moored buoys 18, this assembly being designed to intercept sea current energy, being located on a single level or on a number of levels according to available currents, and mooring facilities, the catenary arrays being moved as necessary, by underwater cables and winches, between the moored buoys to best intercept variation in current direction.

Solar energy plays an important role in the energy island.

Referring to Figs 4 and 6, one method of collecting solar energy is illustrated :-A field of heliostats 20, or orientable mirrors tracking the sun, reflect incoming radiation onto a central furnace 21 where very high temperatures are achieved at high absorption efficiency, the converted thermal energy being transferred through the support mast 22 by a high temperature fluid, such as liquid sodium, to a centrally located generating plant situated in the central energy conversion building 23. The solar

furnace collector temperature being around 800 C, and the coolant being seawater at around 28 C, even if"cascade"generators are used, there will be a large quantity of reject heat, which is stored in the central underwater reservoir to be used to boost the OTEC system. According to the volume and thermal capacity of this store, it can act as a temporary energy source during overcast periods, or help to boost the OTEC system overnight and when the sun is too low to be effective. This configuration represents a" power tower"solar station. The heliostats will need washers and soft water to periodically clean them of marine spray.

An alternative solar energy use is with tracking photovoltaic (pv) panels generating electricity. This option is costly and pv energy conversion is around 12 to 15%, less effective than high temperature collection and generation.

Other simpler less costly but less efficient solar collector systems can be incorporated on the platform. Cylindric parabolic troughs focussing on centrally located pipes tracking the sun can be located below the glazed

roofs of the controlled environment agriculture, CEA, facility providing temperatures of 400 C at relatively high efficiencies, and providing sufficiently high grade energy to generate electricity, with reusable waste heat.

In its most basic form, without any other energy generating facility than wave, wind, current and OTEC, the platform floor can be the solar collector, consisting of a transparent film over a black surface below the sea surface adding heat to the surface seawater drawn in to the evaporator of the OTEC power generator and thereby increasing its temperature and thus also its efficiency. Temperatures of 60 C can be reached efficiently by such a basic system, more than doubling the temperature differential between the tropical surface water and the deep sea.

In most cases, the principal energy source of the energy island will be OTEC. In figures 4 and 6, surface water is drawn down waterways 26, optionally over large areas of floating membrane collectors, 19, protected by a peripheral wave energy converter breakwater, which comprise a transparent inflated or taut sheet over a dark sheet just below the water level, to and from the central generating facility 23 through channels 25 located between the generating facility building 23 and the thermal store 24, the sea water level 30 being located at the line between the building and the top of the channels 25. The surface sea water drawn from the centre by waterways 26 is raised in temperature by heat exchange with the thermal store 24 before being made to react with the deep sea cold water drawn up by the cold water pipe 27. The hot water evaporates a low boiling fluid, driving a turbine, the evaporated fluid being then condensed by the coolth from the deep sea water. If an open cycle is used, in part anyway, one of the by products of electricity generation is distilled water, which can be used for island facilities, but also as a valuable product for nearby populations. Any excess production can be stored 31 awaiting to be tankered to nearby population centres.

Electricity generation is the main purpose of the energy island.

Generated electricity transformed on site can be cabled to nearby land grids. But all or part of the electricity generated can also be transformed at high efficiency by hydrolysis into oxygen and hydrogen, two valuable gases, which by recombination in a fuel cell can provide clean power to vehicles and most industrial processes, and pollution free electricity generation. The energy island would also store some hydrogen 32, and oxygen on board, in underwater storage tanks for safety reasons, to help equalise electricity output and to balance loads according to energy generation regimes chosen. Liquid oxygen, 33 and stabilised hydrogen can be shipped by tankers 34 or pipelined to close by or distant destinations.

An energy island which is located in high latitudes where solar energy is not able to provide hot surface water to an OTEC plant will harvest wave, wind, current, geothermal or space beamed energies independently, either singly or jointly.

The energy island is designed to make use of all energy forms available, some of which may be site specific. Above geothermal underwater resources, near boiling temperatures may be achieved. An inverted OTEC system can be used to generate electricity in deep water conditions, the coolant water supplied by currents or by pumping from nearby waters.

The temperature differential can be important and efficiency high compared to conventional OTEC. Only an electric cable would be needed to transfer the energy upwards to the energy island. Similarly, where compressed gas is released at low sea bed level, this can be used to generate a contained upwards current which could drive a turbogenerator, or assist in accelerating the upward flow of cold water in the cold water pipe, fitted with a single or a number of inverted funnels to collect the said gases and to pipe them to the main cold water pipe or pipes.

An energy island can be designed to hold receiving equipment for energy beamed from outer space generating systems, sent by microwave radiation, laser transmission, or other means, the area crossed by the beams protecting any stray aircraft by a radar system able to switch off or momentarily deviate the incoming beam, such an island being located away from population centres and areas of normal air traffic, but close enough to join beamed energy and resulting electricity used on the island or transferred to existing grids, when not converted to hydrogen fuel.

The large surface area of the energy island platform can be considered as an extension of available land. In the tropics, agriculture is often carried out in the shade. Referring to figs 4,5, and 6, the solar collection system allows sufficient daylight to a controlled environment agriculture facility below it, 26, in which high yields can be achieved, in hydroponic cultures using the distilled water from the OTEC generating plant. This facility, if on a gridded floor, will allow light to the sea surface below, where compartments 29 would allow for diverse forms of mariculture.

Clearly, such an energy island would be a job creator, and housing and social facilities 35 would need to be planned according to the staff employed. In a diverse application, the islands'principal role would be housing for island dwelling populations and their activities, the energy produced only necessary for their needs.

The energy island, producing an"offshore"source of energy has no detrimental environmental effect on the population it serves, either by land use, heating of rivers, gas or radioactive emissions or waste products, nor does it constitute a source of land based Visual pollution".

It would provide a nautical feature at sea, to be provided with all the necessary safety measures for shipping, sometimes out of sight, sometimes positioned purposely to provide coastal protection.

The energy island platforms are designed to be modular so that they can be linked together in various configurations. Referring to Fig 7, eight hexagonal energy islands are shown linked to produce a single long linear unit 40 facing prevailing winds and waves, and sea currents which in this example are assumed to be from the same direction, the linear array giving protection to a harbour 41 in their lee, and to a housing island 42 and a warehousing and energy storage island 43 and a docking facility 44. the large size of each energy island and its protection by wave energy converters from prevailing seas, making it very stable and resistant to rough weather conditions.

Whereas a single energy island might generate the equivalent of a nuclear submarine, an array of eight islands would have an equivalent output to a large nuclear generating station.

Since the greatest proportion of the world population live near tropical seas, the energy island is of direct interest to them. For populations distant from the tropics, the energy island can either be used without the OTEC facility, or hydrogen produced on tropical islands can be tankered or pipelined to these areas.

The energy island concept is capable of producing sufficient safe and pollution free energy for the growing demands of"planet earth" It is a viable alternative to nuclear energy, and can gradually help to fill the gap that will be left by dwindling fossil fuel reserves.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 An energy island comprising a moored floating platform made up of hollow buoyant members constituting a platform which acts as the support for a number of renewable energy converter systems, the upper level of which is provided with a field of heliostats reflecting incoming solar radiation towards a single or a number of focal receivers, this field located above greenhouses constituting a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) level, the light permeable floor of which allows daylight to penetrate the water below sufficient for marine life and fish farming, a great diversity of alternative solar collector systems ranging from parabolic mirrors to photovoltaic cells being possible, the platform also designed to support an array of wind generators, and presenting a wave energy converter system on its windward sides, and below the water level a cowled sea current interceptor, possibly receiving and converting other energy sources such as geothermal or energy beamed from outer space, each producing energy that can be used independently or in association with an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system, the island being provided with waterways to its external edges allowing the flow, over optional temperature enhancing floating membranes, protected by wave energy converters, and ebb of warm surface sea water to and from a central OTEC energy generator operating on the difference of temperature between the warmer surface waters of warm seas and the colder water pumped from the depths by a single or number of plunger cold water pipes, the generating system provided with an underwater heat reservoir storing any excess thermal energy from the solar collector field, allowing higher temperatures and therefore higher efficiences to the OTEC plant, the energies generated by these diverse systems combined to produce electricity for the grid, with possible conversion by hydrolysis to hydrogen and oxygen as energy sources for fuel cells and other energy systems, with the further benefits of distilled water production as a by-product of the OTEC generating plant, as well as food from the CEA facility and marine produce from the underwater compartments, the platforms able to link together to produce larger power plants and able also to support housing for staff and new population centres, the platforms being disposed to provide shelter to harbours in their lee and to lands threatened by rough seas and rising water levels, and providing large quantities of energy, part of which can be directed to pump back eroded land and build any necessary waterfront protection. 2 An energy island which can carry a diversity of solar collectors, as claimed in claim 1, according to the overall system requirements, which collectors can be heliostats disposed in a"power tower"system or can be cylindro-parabolic mirrors pivoting around a focal tube located below the greenhouse roofs, tracking photovoltaic panels, flat plate thermal solar collectors or, in their simplest design, the platform floor itself consisting of a transparent membrane over a black membrane immersed in the seawater, designed to raise the temperature of the surface sea water drawn into the OTEC generating plant. Where solar energy is used to generate electricity by a thermal cycle, any reject heat is stored to be used as necessary by the OTEC system. <Desc/Clms Page number 8> CLAIMS (cont.) 3 An energy island, as claimed in claim 1, which is provided on its sides exposed to prevailing strong waves with wave energy converters which both protect the island from strong waves acting as a breakwater, and collect a part of the incoming energy to be used in its simplest form as hydraulic power, possibly activating pumps to assist in fluid dynamics necessary to the OTEC process or converted by generators to electricity. 4 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 which is provided with a buoyant structure strong enough to support an array of wind aerogenerators, with the possibility of these being located at different heights, those placed at the lower levels intercepting winds held close to the sea surface levels whilst those placed higher will be less affected by the lower level generators when the latter are in the lee of the former, this only occurring when the prevailing wind direction is not followed and the array geometry needs to adapt to rogue wind directions, the aerogenerators being mounted on hydraulically adjustable masts so that the array can be adjusted to different wind directions. 5 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 which is provided with a ring of underwater moored buoys supporting a series of cowled turbine elements each supported in turn by a cylindrical underwater buoy, the turbines generating electricity from sea currents, the array taking on a catenary shape, on one or more levels, the array being moved as necessary by cables and winches between the moored buoys to accommodate to any changes in current direction. 6 An energy island as claimed in claim I which is designed to recover energy from any nearby environmental source, underwater geothermal energy being of particular interest, since an inverted OTEC plant could be lowered in the vicinity of high temperature waters forming the heat source cooled by piped cool deep water drawn from nearby. Electricity generation is carried out at low level and an electric cable joins the energy island to the lowered generating plant. Other forms of geothermal energy, such as underwater geysers could be similarly used, whilst releases of underwater gases could be recovered by inverted funnels and their upward motion used to drive turbines, or accelerate the flow of cold water in the cold water pipe. 7 An energy island as claimed in claims 3, 4,5 and 6, which is located in high latitudes where solar energy is not able to provide hot surface water to an OTEC plant, and which harvests wave, wind, current, geothermal and other energies independently, either singly or jointly. <Desc/Clms Page number 9> CLAIMS (cont.) 8 An energy island as claimed in claim 1, which is designed to hold receiving equipment for energy beamed from outer space generating systems, sent by microwave radiation, laser transmission, or other means, the area crossed by the beams protected from any stray aircraft by a radar system able to switch off or momentarily deviate the incoming beam, such an island being located away from population centres and areas of normal air traffic, but close enough to connect beamed energy and resulting electricity to existing grids, if not converted to hydrogen fuel. 9 An energy island as claimed in claim l, which forms a useful extension of land, on the surface of which a Controlled Environment Agriculture, (CEA) can be established, whilst diverse forms of mariculture can take place underwater below the island platform surface. 10 An energy island as claimed in claims 1 and 9, formed of one or a number of floating structures, which provides significant amounts of energy in the form of electricity or gas, located offshore and so taking up no valuable land, removing from the land mass visually intrusive effects of power plants such as plumes of smoke from cooling towers, removing other negative effects of these power plants, such as the warming of coolant rivers or greenhouse gases where fossil fuels are used and nuclear wastes or stray radiation in nuclear plants, and the danger of accidental or terrorist damage to these with their potentially catastrophic results, and creating no pollution by its own operation. 11 An energy island as claimed in claims 1 and 2, which can be fitted on the side of or around its warm surface water inlets with areas of floating membranes, preferably on the inside of the wave energy converter, and so protected by it, which comprise a transparent inflated or taut sheet over a dark sheet just below the water level such that the water inlet temperature is significantly increased which improves the generation output of the OTEC system, and allows the cold water plunger pipe (CWP. ) to be reduced in length, lessening its cost and the energy needed to transfer cold water from the deep. 12 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 on which, by hydrolysis, water is broken down by electricity to its basic components, hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used by on-board fuel cells to generate electricity where a regular output is needed, the gases being liquefied and stored underwater for safety reasons, or being tankered or pipelined to nearby land or distant destinations, hydrogen gas being considered by many as the clean fuel of the future. In the open cycle OTEC generator, one of the by products is distilled water which is also stored on board, and used to wash marine deposits from heliostats and greenhouses, to provide water for hydrolysis, to allow hydroponic growth of plants in the controlled Environment Agriculture, and to supply soft water to staff housing, any excess being used by neighbouring land based populations or activities. <Desc/Clms Page number 10> CLAIMS (cont.) 13 An energy island as claimed in claim 1, made up of one modular unit designed to link to other such units to create larger island structures of diverse configurations such that they are able to intercept and convert greater quantities of energy, with resulting variations in power output, these larger islands generally of a linear nature to offer the greatest exposure to prevailing energy systems, the linear nature of these assemblies making them ideal breakwaters for coastal protection, the large size of each energy island and its protection by wave energy converters from prevailing seas, making it very stable and resistant to rough weather conditions. 14 An energy island as claimed in claims 1 and 12, consisting of one or of a number of linked modular units, to the leeside of which are located harbours and moorings, warehousing and industrial units, as well as housing for staff employed on the island together with necessary social facilities, such modular floating units being capable of being used for housing and their related social structures on their own, with an optional energy creating facility to meet only the needs of the said units, and to allow significant island population and activities to become established. 15 An energy island substantially as described herein with reference to figures 1-7 of the accompanying drawings. <Desc/Clms Page number 11> Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows

1 An energy island comprising a moored floating or shore-based platform which acts as the support for energy converter systems for any number of the many renewable and other energy sources available on the seas and the oceans ranging from wind, wave, sea current, and ocean thermal sources, and solar energy in diverse forms, be they photoelectric, photothermal, photochemical or photobiological.

2 An energy island, as claimed in claim 1, the upper level of which is provided with a field of heliostats reflecting incoming solar radiation towards a single or a number of focal receivers, this field located above greenhouses constituting a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) level, the light permeable floor of which allows daylight to penetrate the water below sufficient for marine life and fish farming, a great diversity of alternative solar collector systems ranging from parabolic mirrors to photovoltaic cells being possible, the platform also designed to support an array of wind generators, and presenting a wave energy converter system on its windward sides, and below the water level a cowled sea current interceptor, possibly receiving and converting other energy sources such as geothermal or energy beamed from outer space, each producing energy that can be used independently or in association with an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system, the island being provided with waterways to its external edges allowing the flow, over optional temperature enhancing floating membranes, protected by wave energy converters, and ebb of warm surface sea water to and from a central OTEC energy generator operating on the difference of temperature between the warmer surface waters of warm seas and the colder water pumped from the depths by a single or number of plunger cold water pipes, the generating system provided with an underwater heat reservoir storing any excess thermal energy from the solar collector field, allowing higher temperatures and therefore higher efficiences to the OTEC plant, the energies generated by these diverse systems combined to produce electricity for the grid, with possible conversion by hydrolysis to hydrogen and oxygen as energy sources for fuel cells and other energy systems, with the further benefits of distilled water production as a by-product of the OTEC generating plant, as well as food from the CEA facility and marine produce from the underwater compartments, the platforms able to link together to produce larger power plants and able also to support housing for staff and new population centres, the platforms being disposed to provide shelter to harbours in their lee and to lands threatened by rough seas and rising water levels, and providing large quantities of energy, part of which can be directed to pump back eroded land and build any necessary waterfront protection.

3 An energy island which can carry a diversity of solar collectors, as claimed in claim I and claim 2, according to the overall system requirements, which collectors can be heliostats disposed in a"power tower"system or can be cylindro-parabolic mirrors pivoting around a focal tube located below the greenhouse roofs, tracking photovoltaic panels, flat plate thermal solar collectors or, in their simplest design, the platform floor itself consisting of a transparent membrane over a black membrane immersed in the seawater, designed to raise the temperature of the surface sea water drawn into the OTEC generating plant. Where solar energy is used to generate electricity by a thermal cycle, any reject heat is stored to be used as necessary by the OTEC system.

CLAIMS (cont.)

4 An energy island, as claimed in claim 1 and 2, which is provided on its sides exposed to prevailmg strong waves with wave energy converters which both protect the island from strong waves acting as a breakwater, and collect a part of the incoming energy to be used in its simplest form as hydraulic power, possibly activating pumps to assist in fluid dynamics necessary to the OTEC process or converted by generators to electricity.

5 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 and claim 2, which is provided with a buoyant structure strong enough to support an array of wind aerogenerators, with the possibility of these being located at different heights, those placed at the lower levels intercepting winds held close to the sea surface levels whilst those placed higher will be less affected by the lower level generators when the latter are in the lee of the former, this only occurring when the prevailing wind direction is not followed and the array geometry needs to adapt to rogue wind directions, the aerogenerators being mounted on hydraulically adjustable masts so that the array can be adjusted to different wind directions.

6 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 and claim 2, which is provided with a ring of underwater moored buoys supporting a series of cowled turbine elements each supported in turn by a cylindrical underwater buoy, the turbines generating electricity from sea currents, the array taking on a catenary shape, on one or more levels, the array being moved as necessary by cables and winches between the moored buoys to accommodate to any changes in current direction.

7 An energy island as claimed in claim 1 and claim 2, which is designed to recover energy from any nearby environmental source, underwater geothermal energy being of particular interest, since an inverted OTEC plant could be lowered in the vicinity of high temperature waters forming the heat source cooled by piped cool deep water drawn from nearby. Electricity generation is carried out at low level and an electric cable joins the energy island to the lowered generating plant. Other forms of geothermal energy, such as underwater geysers could be similarly used, whilst releases of underwater gases could be recovered by inverted funnels and their upward motion used to drive turbines, or accelerate the flow of cold water in the cold water pipe.

8 An energy island as claimed in claims 2,3, 4,5, 6 and 7, which is located in high latitudes where solar energy is not able to provide hot surface water to an OTEC plant, and which harvests wave, wind, current, geothermal and other energies independently, either singly or jointly.

CLAIMS (cont.)

9 An energy island as claimed in claim I and 2, which is designed to hold receiving equipment for energy beamed from outer space generating systems, sent by microwave radiation, laser transmission, or other means, the area crossed by the beams protected from any stray aircraft by a radar system able to switch off or momentarily deviate the incoming beam, such an island being located away from population centres and areas of normal air traffic, but close enough to connect beamed energy and resulting electricity to existing gnds, if not converted to hydrogen fuel.

10 An energy island as claimed in claim land 2, which forms a useful extension of land, on the surface of which a Controlled Environment Agriculture, (CEA) can be established, whilst diverse forms of mariculture can take place underwater below the island platform surface.

11 An energy island as claimed in claims 1 and 9, formed of one or a number of floating structures, which provides significant amounts of energy in the form of electricity or gas, located offshore and so taking up no valuable land, removing from the land mass visually intrusive effects of power plants such as plumes of smoke from cooling towers, removing other negative effects of these power plants, such as the warming of coolant rivers or greenhouse gases where fossil fuels are used and nuclear wastes or stray radiation in nuclear plants, and the danger of accidental or terrorist damage to these with their potentially catastrophic results, and creating no pollution by its own operation.

12 An energy island as claimed in claims I and 2, which can be fitted on the side of or around its warm surface water inlets with areas of floating membranes, preferably on the inside of the wave energy converter, and so protected by it, which comprise a transparent inflated or taut sheet over a dark sheet just below the water level such that the water inlet temperature is significantly increased which improves the generation output of the OTEC system, and allows the cold water pipe (CWP. ) to be reduced in length, lessening its cost and the energy needed to transfer cold water from the deep.

13 An energy island as claimed in claim I and 2, on which, by hydrolysis, water is broken down by electricity to its basic components, hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used by on-board fuel cells to generate electricity where a regular output is needed, the gases being liquefied and stored underwater for safety reasons, or being tankered or pipelined to nearby land or distant destinations, hydrogen gas being considered by many as the clean fuel of the future. In the open cycle OTEC generator, one of the by products is distilled water which is also stored on board, and used to wash marine deposits from heliostats and greenhouses, to provide water for hydrolysis, to allow hydroponic growth of plants in the controlled Environment Agriculture, and to supply soft water to staff housing, any excess being used by neighbouring land based populations or activities.

CLAIMS (cont.)

14 An energy island as claimed in claim I and 2, made up of one modular unit designed to link to other such units to create larger island structures of diverse configurations such that they are able to intercept and convert greater quantities of energy, with resulting variations in power output, these larger islands generally of a linear nature to offer the greatest exposure to prevailing energy systems, the linear nature of these assemblies making them ideal breakwaters for coastal protection, the large size of each energy island and its protection by wave energy converters from prevailing seas, making it very stable and resistant to rough weather conditions.

15 An energy island as claimed in claims 1 and 2, consisting of one or of a number of linked modular units, to the leeside of which are located harbours and moorings, warehousing and industrial units, as well as housing for staff employed on the island together with necessary social facilities, such modular floating units being capable of being used for housing and their related social structures on their own, with an optional energy creating facility to meet only the needs of the said units, and to allow significant island population and activities to become established.

16 An energy island substantially as described herein with reference to figures 1-7 of the accompanying drawings.