The minister of Economic Affairs, Henk Kamp, announced the three new National Icons during the televised talk show De Wereld Draait Door. Besides Blue Energy, the two winners were Growboxx (planting in arid regions) and Lighthouse (medical isotopes). The government will support the National Icons during the next few years. Each of them will be appointed a minister as ambassador, who will provide access to a large network and will help in the search for financing and new partners.
The company REDstack developed Blue Energy in the last ten years in collaboration with the Wetsus water institute in Leeuwarden, where the Wageningen professor Cees Buisman works together with other universities and companies to develop new water technology. Buisman has been working on the generation of electricity using water since 2004.
The principle to electricity generation from fresh and salt water does not originate from Wageningen, clarifies Buisman. ‘We have made the technology achievable, although nobody believed it. Jan Post received his doctorate cum laude for his work on this topic in Wageningen.’
Additional reading (partly in Dutch):
Pilot plant brings ‘blue energy’ closer
Funds ready for blue energy test station