Osmotic power is the energy that comes out of the difference in salinity between sea water and fresh water. This energy can be harnessed to generate electricity.
Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Let’s see how this happens. When we separate fresh water from sea water by a semi permeable membrane, we can see that the fresh water moves through the membrane into the sea-water. This happens by a process called osmosis. It means the movement of something from a less concentrated solution into a concentrated one.
There is a pressure created by the process of osmosis. This pressure combined with the permeating flow rate together, turns a hydraulic turbine, and produces electricity.
Statkraft, the Norwegian energy firm was the world’s first test plant that harnessed osmotic power. Experts note that there are many advantages to this kind of power production over others. However, the biggest challenge this technology faces is the cost. Osmotic power plants are just too expensive to install.
Yet another renewable energy is biomass, a fuel that is developed from organic materials like certain crops, manure, forest debris etc. In biomass power plants, waste is burned to produce steam that runs a turbine, producing electricity.
