TY - RPRT TI - The Potential of Osmotic Energy in the EU AU - Jentsch, S AU - Sandt, M AU - Birth-Reichert, T AU - Breitschopf, B AU - Haendel, M AU - Seigeot, V AB - In the context of renewable energy supply in the Member States of the European Union, energy generation using osmotic power plants represents a future possibility. The first part of this study therefore examines osmotic energy technologies in terms of their technical state of development, a technical comparison of osmosis technologies with each other and other energy systems, as well as an economic overview. In the second part of the study, the potential for osmotic energy generation in the EU Member States is determined. The aim of the study is thus to provide an overview of the technology systems and the general energy potential. Information regarding the energy potential from osmosis was gathered through a combination of literature searches and interviews with experts in the field.Osmotic power plants are relatively new technologies and there are still technical challenges to overcome. These include the development of more efficient technology components, such as membranes. In order to remain competitive with other established renewable energy technologies, research and development must therefore be constantly driven forward.The evaluation of osmosis energy systems indicates that three systems will soon reach marketable scaling. These are pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), reverse electrodialysis (RED), and ionic nano osmotic diffusion (INOD) technology which is an evolution of RED technology based on nanotechnologies. Both PRO and RED, which are currently at technology readiness level (TRL) 7, and INOD with TRL 6-7, offer good modular scalability and can guarantee continuous operations. The membranes within the stack components in particular offer potential for improving the efficiency of the technologies by using modern materials, such as nanotechnologies. In addition to PRO and RED technologies, there are also capacitive mixing technologies, but these are still in the development stage with a TRL of 4.The levelised cost of electricity (LCoE), the investment costs (CAPEX) and operating costs (OPEX) are presented as part of the economic feasibility study. For PRO a LCoE of 0.15–0.19 €/kWh is anticipated in the short term, which is expected to fall to below 0.09 €/kWh after upscaling and technology development. For RED a reduction from 0.11–0.12 €/kWh to 0.05 €/kWh in 2030 for the 100 MW scale is forecast. INOD is expected to reach a LCoE of 0.08 €/kWh within the next 5 years from 0.15 €/kWh for the first 1 MW commercial plant. However, the initial investment costs are very high and depend on the size of the plant systems. Operating costs are estimated to be rather low with 3–5% compared to the CAPEX.In the second part of the study, the theoretical and the technical energy potentials at estuaries of rivers in the Member States of the European Union are determined. The estuaries of rivers flowing into seas are considered in each case, as the necessary differences in salinity between fresh water (rivers) and sea water (salt water) can be utilised here. For some countries (Luxembourg, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary), which have no estuaries due to their continental location, or countries with no permanent or too small river flowrates (Belgium, Denmark, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia) no potential can be determined. For the other countries, based on historical average flow rates, there is a total theoretical potential of around 70.6 GW, which corresponds to an estimated technical power potential of 6.4 GW at a river water withdrawal rate (proportion of river water that is removed for the osmosis system and returned to it shortly afterwards) of 20% as a conservative assumption and an efficiency of 45%. The market assessment done by Sweetch Energy confirms the overall osmotic power potential in the EU as estimated is around 6.6 GW, with an average withdrawal rate between 15% and 20%.With an operating time for the osmotic energy systems of 8,000 h/a (equivalent to a 91% load factor), this can provide approximately 50.8 TWh of energy annually, which represents 1.7% of the electricity generation in the EU in 2021. The load factor takes into account various factors such as downtime for maintenance, unexpected failures, and exceptionally low river flows. The impact of climate change on the frequency, severity and duration of droughts is beyond the scope of this study and has not been taken into account when assessing the osmotic energy generation potential. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania in particular have considerable potential. Despite high flow rates, Nordic countries only have a comparatively low potential due to low salinity differences between rivers and the adjacent seas.The detailed assessment of the power and energy potential in the EU Member States can be found in the datasheets published together with this report.In addition to the potential from rivers and oceans, there is further potential from hypersaline sources like desalination brines, natural sources (hypersaline lakes, salt domes, hypersaline geothermal water) or industrial brines (brine waste water, oil field brines, evaporation ponds – solar salterns). However, their potential was not assessed in this study.In summary, osmosis technologies offer a promising alternative for energy generation as they are renewable, supply stable electricity on a 24/7/365 basis (except for maintenance and exceptionally low river flow), can be switched on/off within minutes, produce no direct CO2 emissions and have low operating costs. However, there are currently only pilot plants in the smallscale sector, but this is set to change in the coming years up to 2030. The investment costs for the construction of power plants are also still high. However, the theoretical and technical energy potential is large and can make a good contribution to renewable energy transformation in the future. DA - 2024/05// PY - 2024 PB - Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF UR - https://www.ocean-energy-systems.org/publications/selected-reports-from-oes-members/document/the-potential-of-osmotic-energy-in-the-eu/ DO - 10.2833/360619 LA - English KW - Salinity Gradient KW - Cost Assessment KW - Levelized Cost of Energy ER -