01st. Osmotic Power Plant in Japan begins operation in Fukuoka

Japan’s first osmotic power plant that uses the difference in salt concentration between seawater and fresh water to generate electricity began operations from 05^th. August in a southwestern prefecture Fukuoka.

The Fukuoka District Waterworks Agency, the world’s second operator to use the technology, following the SaltPower Project – Nouryon salt producing plant in Mariager, Denmark which has begun production in 2023, describes it as “a next-generation renewable energy source that is not affected by weather or time of day and emits no carbon dioxide“.

In the process, also called salinity gradient power, the electricity is produced by the osmotic process when concentrated seawater created by extracting fresh water is separated by a permeable membrane from treated water from a sewage treatment facility. The membrane does not allow impurities other than water to pass. A turbine in the plant is rotated via pressure created by the movement of water from the fresh to the saltwater reservoir, with a generator producing electricity from the turbine’s movement.

The agency expects the power generation plant, to produce 880,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The power will be used in a desalination facility that provides fresh water to the city and neighboring areas.

“I feel overwhelmed that we have been able to put this into practical use. I hope it spreads not just in Japan, but across the world“, said Akihiko Tanioka, an expert in osmotic power and professor emeritus at the Institute of Science Tokyo.

The European Union funded SaltPower project has developed osmotic power units (OPUs) that are delivered in containerised modules and generate non-fluctuating baseload power for own consumption or the power grid. The aim of the project is to upscale its current mobile 20 kW OPU to a 100 kW unit and to further reduce electricity costs. The project will help to advance the European goal of emission-free energy production.

Team Maverick