Domestic researchers have developed a core technology in generating power using the salinity difference between seawater and fresh water.
 
A research team led by Jeong Nam-jo at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) said on Tuesday that it developed the eco-friendly technology for the first time in South Korea, noting that the technology produces no greenhouse gases.
 
From the nation's major rivers and oceans, South Korea could utilize the technology to produce 34-hundred megawatts of electricity, or 20 percent of the power generated from nuclear energy.
 
The global reserves of salinity gradient power are estimated at two-point-six terawatts, which is equivalent to the energy produced by 26-hundred nuclear power plants over a year.