Energy Performance Assessment of Sea Water Air Conditioning (Swac) as a Solution Toward Net Zero Carbon Emissions a Case Study in French Polynesia

Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) technology uses deep ocean water to cool buildings. It is a non-intermittent renewable thermal energy used directly without any transformation. It may replace other air-conditioning systems powered by electrical energy (mechanical vapor compression thermodynamic cycle) or powered by other renewable energies (solar heating and cooling systems). Despite its theoretical appeal as a solution to help achieve net-zero carbon emissions, and the existence of successful deployments, SWAC technology remains scarce worldwide. One reason for this failure to scale might be the absence of experimental data detailing energy performance of SWAC systems in real-world, commercial settings. Here we present the performance of an existing 2.4 MW SWAC system, operated by The Brando resort on the atoll of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia. Under a tropical climate, experimental results show that the Coefficient of Performance (COP) of the SWAC system can reach 20 to 140 depending on the secondary loop length, compared with conventional vapor compression systems that peak at around 5 for the most efficient