World's first power plant: Salt water meets fresh water to generate electricity

The Netherlands built the world's first reverse electrodialysis power plant at Breezanddijk, generating electricity from salt and fresh water mixing.

The plant uses alternating membranes to direct sodium and chloride ions to electrodes, producing current without turbines; membranes were supplied by Fujifilm with research from Wetsus.

Operated by REDstack, the plant was switched on by King Willem-Alexander on November 26, 2014.

In 2022, tests using real water from the Wadden Sea and IJsselmeer measured net power density of 0.25 watts per square metre, far below the 50 kW design capacity.

To reach the 50 kW target at measured efficiency, about 200,000 square metres of membrane would be needed, roughly 37 football fields.