New Norway power plant uses salt to make electricity - Yahoo! News

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Norway unveiled the world's first osmotic power plant on Tuesday, 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 head of state-owned power group Statkraft, Baard Mikkelsen, told reporters.

Statkraft, which claims to be the biggest renewable energy company in Europe, is running the osmotic power plant prototype in a former chlorine factory on the banks of the Oslo fjord, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) 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.

Contrary to other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, osmotic power produces a stable electricity flow regardless of weather conditions.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091124/sc_afp/norwayenergyelectricityrenewables_20091124151521

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091124/sc_afp/norwayenergyelectricityrenewables_20091124151521