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Japan has opened its first osmotic power plant

(www.theguardian.com)
301 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 25 Aug 25 02:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.322s | source
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yyyk ◴[26 Aug 25 19:49 UTC] No.45031442[source]▶
It must be very wasteful in water - nearly all low-salinity water is easy to recycle, but here is wasted for a tiny powerplant.
replies(2): >>45032055 #>>45032191 #
1. OneDeuxTriSeiGo ◴[26 Aug 25 20:53 UTC] No.45032191[source]▶
Fukouka isn't particularly in short supply of access to water, it's just not convenient for them.

The region is humid and rainy for over half the year and it's only particularly dry for about a quarter of the year. And they have a comprehensive system for evacuating stormwater during the rainy season as well.

So I'd reason a guess that they have a waste water excess 1/2 to 3/4 of the year but still need the baseload capacity of the desalination plant for the remaining chunk of the year. And while you could probably switch over to plain seawater for the portion where you are running negative, it may not be worth the added maintenance/cleanup cost of having to deal with salt or brackish water for only a small portion of the year. So instead you just eat the losses for that window in exchange for the increased efficiency/lower complexity/lower operating costs.