There is an opportunity for Hawaii to become less dependent on imported oil.
The technology is called ocean thermal energy conversion or "OTEC."
The technology is being developed by Lockheed Martin and it involves using the difference in temperature between surface and deep sea water.
"If you're in the right region, where you have really warm water on the surface of the ocean, you're really really poised to take advantage of OTEC. Places like Hawaii and there's probably 80 places around the world that are in the right geographic areas where they can take advantage of a really take advantage of what is really an incredible natural resource," says Dan Heller of Lockheed Martin.
I asked Heller to explain the process in layman's terms.
"All we do is use the warmer surface temperatures of the water to convert a working fluid like ammonia to steam which produces electricity. And then we turn around and use the cooler waters in the depths of the ocean to convert the gas back to the working fluid," he says.
There are no emissions, no pollution.
"Once the system has generated the electricity, you just run a cable from the platform which could be ten to twenty miles off the coast and you just run it right into the grid," Heller says.
The savings could be significant.
"If Hawaii had a hundred megawatt OTEC plant, you would save about 1.3 million barrels of oil per year. With oil trading at about one hundred dollars a barrel, that's about a 130 million dollars a year," Heller says.
There may be several steps to go through before there is a practical OTEC platform ready for Hawaii.
"We know the navy is very interested because they've got challenges around the world in getting cheap, reliable energy to their installations and I think they're going to continue to invest in OTEC technology and we'll bring in other partners," says Heller.
Heller says the platform would be located ten to twenty miles off the coast, virtually invisible from shore.
