;. (6) The United States became involved in OTEC research in 1974 with the establishment of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. The laboratory is one of the world’s leading test facilities for OTEC technology. The United States Navy supported the development of a 105 kW demonstration OTEC plant at the laboratory site. This facility became operational in 2015 and supplies electricity to the local electricity grid. (7) In certain regions, onshore OTEC plants are also feasible and they can be configured to support seawater or lake water air conditioning (SWAC/LWAC) systems for refrigeration and cooling, agriculture, and desalination systems for water purification. (8) Economic benefits of OTEC include reduced fuel imports, stable utilities pricing, reduced capital expense to power companies and governments, and significant energy costs savings. (9) Social benefits of OTEC include and an ability to produce freshwater and promotion of aquaculture. (c) Findings related to seawater air conditioning Congress finds the following with respect to seawater air conditioning (SWAC): (1) SWAC is an alternate-energy system that uses the cold water from the deep ocean (and in some cases a deep lake) to cool buildings. (2) SWAC was developed as a secondary benefit in the development of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and can be used in conjunction with an OTEC system or as a standalone alternate energy system. (3) The basic process involves water that is pumped from a deep cold-water source (ocean or lake) and then passed through a heat exchanger. A closed-loop freshwater water distribution system is pumped through a heat exchanger cooling the water and the cooled water is distributed throughout a building or group of buildings (i.e., a district cooling system). (4) The SWAC technology has been proven successful with large systems at Cornell University, Toronto, Canada, and the Natural Energy Authority of Hawaii (NELHA). (5) Environmental benefits of SWAC include being a clean, renewable source of energy,