I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5375 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the energy credit 

for certain ocean thermal energy equipment. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 10, 2019 

Ms. GABBARD (for herself and Mr. CASE) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the 

energy credit for certain ocean thermal energy equipment. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘E. 

5 Cooper Brown Ocean Clean Energy Act of 2019’’. 

6 (b) FINDINGS RELATED TO OCEAN THERMAL EN7 ERGY CONVERSION.—Congress finds the following with re8 spect to ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC): 


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1 (1) OTEC is a clean energy technology that 

2 produces energy by using temperature differentials 

3 between cooler deep and warm surface seawaters. 

4 (2) OTEC technology has the potential to 

5 produce massive levels of clean energy to generate 

6 electricity. 

7 (3) Deployment of OTEC technology will reduce 

8 greenhouse gases and reliance on fossil fuels. 

9 (4) In tropical and subtropical remote locations, 

10 electricity is expensive to generate. Power generated 

11 from OTEC technology will be inexpensive when 

12 compared to the unit cost of power from a tradi13 tional oil based electrical generation system. 

14 (5) OTEC generated energy would reduce oper15 ational costs for remote military bases such as Kwaj16 alein and Diego Garcia;. 

17 (6) The United States became involved in 

18 OTEC research in 1974 with the establishment of 

19 the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. 

20 The laboratory is one of the world’s leading test fa21 cilities for OTEC technology. The United States 

22 Navy supported the development of a 105 kW dem23 onstration OTEC plant at the laboratory site. This 

24 facility became operational in 2015 and supplies 

25 electricity to the local electricity grid. 


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1 (7) In certain regions, onshore OTEC plants 

2 are also feasible and they can be configured to sup3 port seawater or lake water air conditioning (SWAC/ 

4 LWAC) systems for refrigeration and cooling, agri5 culture, and desalination systems for water purifi6 cation. 

7 (8) Economic benefits of OTEC include reduced 

8 fuel imports, stable utilities pricing, reduced capital 

9 expense to power companies and governments, and 

10 significant energy costs savings. 

11 (9) Social benefits of OTEC include and an 

12 ability to produce freshwater and promotion of aqua13 culture. 

14 (c) FINDINGS RELATED TO SEAWATER AIR CONDI15 TIONING.—Congress finds the following with respect to 

16 seawater air conditioning (SWAC): 

17 (1) SWAC is an alternate-energy system that 

18 uses the cold water from the deep ocean (and in 

19 some cases a deep lake) to cool buildings. 

20 (2) SWAC was developed as a secondary benefit 

21 in the development of ocean thermal energy conver22 sion (OTEC) and can be used in conjunction with an 

23 OTEC system or as a standalone alternate energy 

24 system. 


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1 (3) The basic process involves water that is 

2 pumped from a deep cold-water source (ocean or 

3 lake) and then passed through a heat exchanger. A 

4 closed-loop freshwater water distribution system is 

5 pumped through a heat exchanger cooling the water 

6 and the cooled water is distributed throughout a 

7 building or group of buildings (i.e., a district cooling 

8 system). 

9 (4) The SWAC technology has been proven suc10 cessful with large systems at Cornell University, To11 ronto, Canada, and the Natural Energy Authority of 

12 Hawaii (NELHA). 

13 (5) Environmental benefits of SWAC include 

14 being a clean, renewable source of energy, decreased 

15 reliance on fossil fuels for cooling, and reduction in 

16 greenhouse gas emissions. 

17 (6) Economic benefits of SWAC include stable 

18 long-term energy costs and independence from mar19 ket trends, reduced operating costs (including lower 

20 costs in fuel, freshwater, equipment, and equipment 

21 maintenance), and being a cost-effective and attrac22 tive energy technology investment. 


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1 SEC. 2. ENERGY CREDIT FOR CERTAIN OCEAN THERMAL 

2 ENERGY PROPERTY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48(a)(3)(A) of the Inter4 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ 

5 at the end of clause (vi), by adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of 

6 clause (vii), and by adding at the end the following new 

7 clause: 

8 ‘‘(viii) equipment which converts 

9 ocean thermal energy to usable energy or 

10 which uses ocean water as a thermal en11 ergy sink to cool a structure,’’. 

12 (b) 15-PERCENT CREDIT.—Section 48(a)(2)(A) of 

13 such Code is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause 

15 (i)(IV); 

16 (2) by redesignating clause (ii) as clause (iii); 

17 (3) by striking ‘‘any energy property to which 

18 clause (i) does not apply’’ in clause (iii) (as so redes19 ignated) and inserting ‘‘any other energy property’’; 

20 and 

21 (4) by inserting after clause (i) the following 

22 new clause: 

23 ‘‘(ii) 15 percent in the case of any en24 ergy property described in paragraph 

25 (3)(A)(viii), and’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to periods after December 31, 

3 2019, under rules similar to the rules of section 48(m) 

4 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as in effect on the 

5 day before the date of the enactment of the Revenue Rec6 onciliation Act of 1990). 

Æ 


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