Abstract
In this work, the potential of harvesting energy from ocean salt basins is discussed. These deep ocean depressions which host thick salts deposits whose salinities could be up to 5-10 times higher than normal seawater open an interesting -and so far, unexplored possibility for ocean energy. It is known that upon mixing two solutions of different concentrations spontaneous energy can be released, and then, if the upper waters surrounding the basin are deliberately brought and mixed with the hypersaline brine pool, osmotic energy can be obtained. Although the extractable osmotic energy density is certainly low in comparison with other ocean energy sources, nevertheless, ocean basins can be several kilometers broad and then a vast amount of energy is stored in those basins, which, in addition, could be steadily extracted without interruption avoiding the intermittence problem besetting traditional renewable energies. The economical viability for an ocean brine pool power station could be in any case higher or at least similar than that from Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). Additional R&D is required in order to arrive at a reliable practical design and to explore this yet untapped new source of ocean energy.