No OTEC for the Philippines Just Now?

Here’s an article by my colleague Emma Websdale, writing for the new website EmpowerTheOcean.  Apparently, The Philippines is making magnificent progress in the direction of clean energy, with a recent half-billion dollar investment in solar and biomass.

That’s great, but why not OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion)?  Googling the subject turns up lots of content that’s a few years old, but not much recently.  The oceans there (like the one pictured here off the idyllic beach in Balesin) are 84 degrees F today; that’s certainly warm enough; perhaps it’s the availability of cold water near to land?