Osmotic Power Plant Set To Open
Posted in Future Technology | Tidal Power | Wave Power
With the big push on alternative energy sources, world leaders everywhere are pushing for new power technology to create power plants that will use different resources to keep the earth greener. Her Royal Highness, The Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has just made a huge step as a leader in this movement as she has announced the opening of the world’s first osmotic power plant, due to begin operations on November 24, 2009.
Osmotic power plants operate by combining salt water and fresh water. Cost has been one of the major obstacles in taking this type of power to the masses, but they have obviously fixed that problem and the new power station is being watched by all with much anticipation. With well over 10 years of research behind it, this osmotic power plant is literally world changing technology.
While this particular osmotic power plant is more of a prototype than energy source, it will be curious to see how things work. They will use this plant primarily for testing and development of a commercial model, but if all goes well, we can expect to see a power station that will be made for public energy use in just a few years.
The basis of this energy source is the meeting of fresh water with salt water. That being the case, these osmotic power plants can be set up anywhere that there is a runoff into the ocean. Believe it or not, they can actually be built right into industrial buildings if this testing model is found to be successful. The power plants are both noise and pollutant free and are a great alternative to some of the means of power that industry is currently using.
Because much of industry around the world is located on waterfront areas, if this source of power proves to be successful, this becomes a very viable source of energy for industry to use to dramatically cut down on the pollutants that are released into our atmosphere from this business sector. Anyone having driven through an industrial section of town knows how important this would be to creating a much safer breathing environment.
The project itself is headed up by Statkraft, which is the largest renewable energy company in Europe. They have over 10 years research invested in this project and are very excited to have Norway behind them in this venture, the princess in particular. In addition to developing this osmotic power plant, Statkraft is also involved in developing other renewable energy sources such as solar power and marine power.