4 ms·
The benefit of osmotic power/salinity gradient power is that it's a base load. That means it will produce power at a constant rate, regardless of the time of da
by cbcoutinho 9y ago
The benefit of osmotic power/salinity gradient power is that it's a base load. That means it will produce power at a constant rate, regardless of the time of day, which is one of the draw backs of the more common sources of renewable sources of energy (solar, wind, etc.)
- hannob 9y agoBase load is not necessarily an advantage in a future energy system. Lots of solar and wind means there will be times when all the electricity can be provided by them. So what's really needed is flexible electricity to complement that.
- ComputerGuru 9y agoAt that point, it's free energy. Are you really complaining? (Yes, I do know power companies must dissipate that somehow, my own even has times whence the realtime pricing drops below zero as incentive. But a solved problem nevertheless.)
- nine_k 9y agoIt's not not free if your power plant is free, too.
- geon 9y agoThe extra energy can be dumped into pumping water up a dam. It is reasonably efficient, at 70-80%. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectric...
- ZeroGravitas 9y agoYes, but excess solar, wind and nuclear can already do that. So introducing a new, so-called "baseload" power supplier doesn't automatically make for good economics, if anything selling it as "baseload" rather than say "cheap" is a bad sign.