Sunmary ■/ ' 



The plan for development of OTEC anchors (illustrated in Figure 7) 

 is arranged to complete installation of the demonstration, free-fall- 

 emplaced, deadweight anchor by April 1980. The demonstration anchor is 

 thus scheduled to be available to serve in the mooring system for the 

 proposed 5-MWe OTEC pilot power plant. This plan goes far beyond the 

 anchor itself - to the fabrication and testing of a complete mooring 

 leg, because it is the total mooring leg that makes a meaningful, useful 

 package. 



Certain points demand special reference. First, the proposed 

 schedule is very tight. To meet the mooring installation date of April 

 1980, technology development for the free-fall anchor must be initiated 

 in early October 1977. Second, the plan, specifically the cost figures, 

 assumes a single-point moor. Fouling of the mooring line on the cold 

 water pipe during slack loading periods is assumed to be minimized by 

 equipping the plant with an under-rated dynamic positioning system to 

 keep the plant outside a minimum radius watch circle. The cost estimate 

 does not include the cost of the under-rated dynamic positioning system. 

 Third, the plan assumes that mooring line loads are sufficiently low 

 that they can be safely resisted by near off-the-shelf designs for line, 

 line terminations, U-joints, and swivels - i.e., design loads are less 

 than 3 MN (0.7 x 10 lb) - safety factor of 3 assumed on 0.25-m (10 in.) 

 diameter braided synthetic. If higher loads are to be applied, then 

 costs and probably the time duration of the mooring plan will increase 

 to accommodate required line development and hardware engineering. 



The plan for development calls for installation o*" the mooring 

 during March 1980, to be completed to receive the 5-MWe pilot plant in 

 April. Close monitoring of performance of this mooring system will 

 continue for about 12 months, after which a periodic inspection schedule 

 would be set up. Results of this anchor/mooring demonstration will be 

 evaluated with adequate time remaining for design, fabrication, trans- 

 port, and installation of a prototype anchor to serve in the mooring for 

 the planned 25-MWe OTEC in early 1983. 



19 



