Japan debuts first-ever osmotic power plant in blue energy breakthrough

Japan has made a breakthrough in blue energy by opening its first osmotic power plant in the south-western city of Fukuoka.

This power plant is the second power plant of its type in the world, possessing the capability to generate about 880,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

The produced energy will be enough to run a desalination plant to supply fresh water to the city and neighbouring areas.

According to Dr Ali Altaee from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) said, “The energy is equivalent to powering 220 Japanese households.”

This source of renewable energy is emerging in the world and being used on a modest scale. However, this option has an edge over the other renewable energy sources because of its round-the-clock availability regardless of weather conditions.

The power plant depends on the blend of fresh and salt water, leading to continuous flow of energy and source of electricity.

The first osmotic power plant was constructed in 2023 in Mariager, Denmark by SaltPower.

Despite having the same operational capacity, the Japanese power plant is larger than the one in Denmark.

Moreover, the efforts to build osmotic power plants are underway in Norway and South Korea.

According to Prof Sandra Kentish, these power plants can be harnessed further to produce energy on a large scale.

Moreover, the launch of another prototype, according to Altaee, could raise the chances for large-scale implementation in Australia.

“We have salt lakes around New South Wales and Sydney that could be used as a resource and we also have the expertise to build it,” he added.