Patent ID: 8740583

Claim:
An ocean energy conversion system which includes a body ( 14 ) lying at the sea surface, a cold water pipe ( 12 , 12 A, 12 B) that has a primarily vertical pipe axis and that extends down from said body toward the sea floor and that has a pipe lower end ( 20 ) lying at a depth on the order of magnitude of 1000 meters under the sea surface, and a pump module with an electrically energized pump with said pump module ( 46 ) mounted on said pipe lower end, and with said pump module having a pump mechanism that pumps sea water upward through the pipe, including; a bottom structure ( 22 ) attached to said pipe lower end. said bottom structure having an axis that is coincident with said pipe axis, said bottom structure forming an installation slot ( 44 ) open orthogonally to the bottom structure axis through which said pump module can be installed and removed; an electrical cable ( 84 ) extending upward from said pump module to said body; and, at least one heave damping plate ( 80 ) extending around said bottom structure ( 22 ) and having a larger diameter than an outside diameter of said bottom structure and having primarily vertically-facing surfaces ( 82 ) that each have at least 50% of the cross-sectional area within said pipe.