Influence of working fluid choice, heat exchangers technology and dynamic control of an ORC on the interest and performances of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion system

The temperature difference between the hot surface seawater (of tropical solar origin) and the cold one at depth (which comes from the poles) constitutes a stable, environmentally-friendly and renewable source of energy available in the ocean. This ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) can be used to produce electricity by the way of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). However, the small temperature difference between hot and cold sources represents a technical challenge both for heat transfers and for cycle performances. The objective of this thesis is then to explore the operation improvement possibilities of an ORC applied to OTEC, to complete the knowledge of the system components and to highlight the advantages of this new technology on a non-connected grid such as that of Reunion Island. This work is based both on simulations and on experimental results obtained on a 450 kW thermal energy onshore prototype named PAT ETM. In the first chapter, a new method for the choice of the working fluid is proposed. The study brings out some fluids so far little considered for OTEC. In the second chapter, the experimental tool (the PAT ETM) is presented extensively. The third chapter reports the heat exchanger technologies that have been tested and characterized. The fourth chapter deals with the dynamic modeling of an OTEC system. This study leads to the assessment of the controllability of a complete power plant and shows a still little explored opportunity: that of using OTEC as a management tool to control an electrical network. (author)