The Afsluitdijk dams off the Zuiderzee and is a salt water inlet of the North Sea via the Afsluitdijk and the IJsselmeer lake is the largest fresh water basin of the Netherlands. Where the salt water meet the fresh water is where the business end of this power plant needs to be.
Blue Energy is generated where salt water and fresh water meet and it is a perfectly safe and green way to get energy. So how does it work?
Well salt water has a lot more charged salt particles (ions) than fresh water. If you separate the two by a special filter that only allows either positive or negative charged particles through then the difference in tension generates energy.
Blue Energy is a joint development of Redstack, FujiFilm and water technology knowledge institute Wetsus, Redstack is world’s first to produce blue energy based on reverse electro dialysis (RED) and this is why it’s called a RED power plant Dutch King Willem-Alexander put the power plant to use on 26 November 2014.
This plant is a test installation that allows scientists to further explore RED technology electricity. This one Afsluitdijk should be able to power about 500,000 households.
Its a cheaper way to generate energy vs solar or wind energy and also not dependent on the weather. And if you think about it the Netherlands is running out of space for wind turbines at the rate they are putting them up.
Just think about it, before long you could see RED power plants in just about every country where salt water meets fresh water.
For more information about the power plant go to Dutch Water Sector
