Blue Energy
I’m a flatlander, I live in the Netherlands. No, not beneath the sea level but not that far above it too, high enough however to keep it dry if the pessimists scenario’s about rising sea levels become reality. One of the famous Dutch projects to control the waters and live happily ever after is the Afsluitdijk, a dike that keeps the North Sea out and after completion (in 1932) transformed the former Southern Sea into a freshwater lake, the IJsselmeer. The dike is ever since the physical boundary between the lake’s fresh water and the sea’s salty water. And guess what, there happens to be energy in it. I bet Mister Lely, the engineer who managed the whole project never thought of that. The process is called Reversed Electro Dialysis (RED) and is based on the principle that when fresh and salt water meet or mix, energy is released.
The project is still in the early stages of progress but by the time it will be finished the installation at the Afsluitdijk should provide about 200MW. The situation in the Netherlands have a total potential of 3000MW, roughly 10% of the national energy needs. Not bad for a 75 year old dike only created to protect the land behind it. For the technicians among you, this is how it works:
