|
Power plant uses salt to make electricity
NORWAY unveiled the world's first osmotic power plant overnight, harnessing the energy-unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater to make clean electricity."While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an important part of the global energy portfolio," the chief on state-owned Statkraft, Baard Mikkelsen, said. Statkraft, which presents itself as the biggest renewable energy company in Europe, is running the osmotic power plant prototype on the banks of the Oslo fjord, about 60km south of the Norwegian capital. Osmotic energy is based on the widespread natural phenomenon of osmosis, which allows trees to drink through their leaves and plays on the different concentration levels of liquids. When freshwater and seawater meet on either side of a membrane - a thin layer that retains salt but lets water pass - freshwater is drawn towards the seawater side. The flow puts pressure on the seawater side, and that pressure can be used to drive a turbine, producing electricity. The point of osmotic power is "to use power not against nature but with nature", summed up Sverre Gotaas, in charge of innovation and growth at Statkraft.
Although the plant will for now produce just enough electricity to power a coffee-maker, it could prove to be a great potential clean, environmentally friendly power source. Statkraft hopes to start building the first commercial osmotic power plant, which would have a 25 megawatt capacity, enough to provide about 10,000 households with electricity, in 2015. Posted by: tipper 2009-11-24 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=284120 |