World‘s first osmotic power station prototype opens in Norway
Wednesday 25 November 2009
 |
| The world‘s first osmotic power station prototype has opened in Norway |
The world's first osmotic power plant prototype, which generates emissions-free energy from seawater, was opened yesterday (November 24) at Tofte in Norway.
Norwegian power company Statkraft has been developing the prototype near Oslo for more than a year and researching the technology for ten years. While this prototype will have a limited production capacity and is intended primarily for testing and development purpose, Statkraft said it aims to be constructing commercial osmotic power plants by 2015.
The osmotic plant generates power by exploiting the energy available when fresh water and seawater are mixed, for instance where a river runs into the sea. The fresh water and salt water are guided into separate chambers, divided by an artificial membrane.
The salt molecules in the sea water pull the freshwater through the membrane, increasing the pressure on the sea water side. This pressure is equivalent to a 120m water column, or a significant waterfall, and can be used in a power generating turbine.
Potential
The company estimates the global potential of osmotic power be 1,600-1,700 TWh per annum, and Europe's potential at 180 TWh, or about 5% of total consumption. However, reaching this potential will depend on improving the efficiency of the membrane from around 1W per square meter to 5W.
Statkraft said that osmotic power plants produce no noise or polluting emissions and, in principle, can be located wherever fresh water runs into the sea.
Chief executive and president of Statkraft, Bård Mikkelsen, said osmotic power will be capable of making a substantial global contribution to eco-friendly power production.
"New solutions to meet the climate challenges might be closer than we expect, which makes me confident that the future looks bright," he said.
Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian minister of Petroleum and Energy, said: "Energy solutions are essential to meet the climate challenges, and I am pleased that a Norwegian company is a front runner in developing these technologies."
Print
