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Picture fresh water surging forward to meet salt water. There is pressure created and power produced. Norway will open its first sea waterpower plant and interest is building.

Statkraft is a government operated power facility located in Norway and it has recently launched a sample model power plant that generates power by utilizing seawater, there will likely be more coming. The power production plant counts on an idea known as osmotic pressure gradient and will make two to four Kilowatts at a cost of roughly eight million dollars. Industrialized models will eventually come on line in 2015 that generate power in the Megawatt vicinity.

At first glance the idea seems a bit strange, it is actually beginning to foster interest elsewhere with researchers and those in the desalination industry given that creating power using this method is actually an expansion on the reverse osmosis process used in desalination. Oakland California company, Energy Recovery is a desalination expert and actually supplied some of the apparatus required by Statkraft to construct the prototype. Trials of the unit are supposed to start later this year.

It has been reported that IBMs Almaden Labs, as a case in point, are setting up a plan to check if the IBM desalination membrane technology is useful as a part of the osmotic pressure gradient process. A new Danish venture in called Aquaporin in the meantime is evaluating whether it can launch a synthetic protein it has developed for desalination energy capture. Aquaporin is working alongside French water conglomerate Veolia on desalination exploration.

It is believed that a total of two thousand terawatts hours annually could potentially be produced using this seawater technique, wherever there is a running water source emptying into the sea there is possible energy, according to the microbiologist who is CEO of Aquaporin. Statkraft says the actual number is more like sixteen hundred, which makes up about fifty percent of the European power usage every year. However, the sixteen hundred to two thousand terawatt hour possibilities are global potential – not just in Europe itself.

Osmotic pressure gradients do a good job of generating water pressure while not needing a forceful current. Fresh water from streams and riverine sources push toward a seawater laden tank. At the midway point between sea and fresh water there is a membrane. The dissimilarity between salt concentration forces out the fresh water through the membrane, the membrane also acts as a useful means to eliminate contaminants in the water.

The more fresh water getting to the tank, the less salt water concentration becomes but the increasing quantity of water raises the pressure within the tank. The pressure is captured by a turbine generator. It is very much like the technique used in Niagara hydroelectric production only there is no Niagara. With
An interesting selling feature of this technique of producing power is the relative consistency with which power is produced, certainly more predictable than renewable wind or solar power. These osmotic pressure gradient power generation units will not be required to withstand the inclement conditions that tidal power systems must endure.

However, this process is still highly conceptual and forecasts are few and far between whether or not it can be commercialized at a decent price. Another question remains if it will even pass muster with the environmentalists. One thing is clear, Statkraft has been keen on the notion for many years now and new renewable energy sources are always welcome.