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This week marked another milestone in that very search for renewable energy technologies, in the form of the world's first Osmotic power plant.

The plant opened in Norway earlier this week, on 24 November 2009. Osmosis is the process where tiny water molecules move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration, and now a way has been found to generate energy using this very phenomenon.

It is estimated that the energy generated using this method may eventually be able to supply about 10 percent of the world's total demand for electricity. Unfortunately, this type of energy generating technology can only be used where fresh water meets up or flows into seawater because it requires both fresh and saltwater for the process to work.

The WWF's head of Climate and Energy, Arild Skedsmo, said 'Osmotic power has great potential. In theory the power is available and it's an emission-free way of producing energy. This is an immature technology. But like all renewables, we need a whole range of technologies to be available. Osmotic power can definitely be part of the solution.'

Although the technology has not been rolled out on a large scale yet, the potential for its application is huge, and it seems environmentalists have given the project a big thumbs up. This project has been a story in the making, with about £10.7m spent on it since 1997. It is hoped that the osmosis generator may reach commercial status somewhere between the years 2015 to 2020.