KOROR (Palau Horizon) — Minister of Administration Elbuchel Sadang recently met with Saga University officials to prepare for the upcoming Palau forum on the desalination of seawater using natural energy.
The forum will be held here on Oct. 15. Japan’s Saga Prefecture will host a similar forum in March 2003. Both gatherings are in preparation for the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, which will be held in 2003.
Sadang expressed his great appreciation to the Saga University delegation for their support of Palau as it prepares for “this very significant conference” on new desalination technologies, specifically the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion technology.
OTEC is an alternative energy system that creates no greenhouse gases in line with the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. Its use results in the development of a unique water by-product that can greatly benefit aquaculture development.
Saga University is a world leader in the development of this technology.
Saga University will provide the major funding for the conference in Palau. The Asian Development Bank and the government of Palau are also co-sponsoring the conference.
According to Sadang, Palau has submitted a grant request to the Japanese government for a pilot OTEC plant and is hopeful that the outcome of the Palau meeting, as well as follow-up meetings in Saga and Kyoto, will set a strong foundation for the use of OTEC and allow Palau to have one of the world’s first OTEC projects.
