Norway's Statkraft opens first osmotic power plant
The world's first power project that generates energy by mixing fresh water with sea water has opened in Norway.
The Norwegian renewable power company Statkraft has built a prototype osmotic power plant on the Oslo fiord.
New Norway power plant uses salt to make electricity
Statkraft claims to be the biggest renewable energy company in Europe
Statkraft hopes to start building the first commercial osmotic power plant in 2015
The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.
Once new membrane "architecture" is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600 to 1,700 terawatt hours annually, or about half of the European Union's total electricity demand.