Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is setting up the world’s first self-powered desalination plant using the technology of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) in Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan laid the foundation stone for the project on Monday. 

The OTEC is a method to generate power from the difference in temperatures between the surface and the deep sea. As we go deeper and deeper into the sea, the temperature becomes colder.

In tropical countries such as India, the temperature gradient is more or less constant through the year, thus ensuring constant power generation potential.

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