Instead of one OTEC plant, a network links several floating platforms — each running its own closed Rankine cycle off the local warm/cold water gradient — through subsea power cables converging on a shore substation. Networking many smaller platforms smooths output and lets total capacity scale with demand.
P_platform ≈ k · ΔT² (per-unit thermal power, simplified)
P_grid = Σ P_platform
P_shore = P_grid · (1 − loss)
balance = P_shore − demand
- Active platforms — how many OTEC units are online and feeding the shared cable network (glowing nodes on the seabed grid).
- Thermal gradient ΔT — shared warm/cold water temperature difference driving every platform's turbine equally.
- Grid demand — onshore electricity load the network must supply; pulses along the main trunk cable represent power flow.
- Cable transmission loss — resistive losses in the subsea cables between platforms and the shore substation.
Real-world: proposed OTEC "energy islands" and multi-platform arrays (e.g. in the Caribbean and Pacific) aim to aggregate several plants onto one shared export cable to justify the capital cost of long undersea transmission runs.