Norway Builds World First Osmosis Power Plant

Norwegian energy utility Statkraft is to build the world's first osmotic power plant, using the natural process of osmosis to produce clean energy.

The plant works by separating sea water and fresh water using a membrane which draws fresh sea water through it, increasing pressure on one side to produce power.

The project, which has been in development for ten years, will be built into a power plant prototype to test the technology.

The company says the global technical potential for osmotic power production is estimated at around 1600TW, including 12TW in Norway.

The technology is clean and emission-free and Statkraft expect it to become competitive within a few years.

The prototype is expected to be complete by the end of 2008 producing between 2KW-4KW of energy.

By Ozge Ibrahim