CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Sea Desalination Energy (SDE), an Israeli Company, won a government bid to build a hydraulic power plant in southern China.

If the project is successful, SDE may build an additional 100 plants throughout China.

At a cost of approximately $650,000 per megawatt, SDE's method of converting ocean water to hydroelectric power is much more cost-effective than coal-generated plants ($3 million per megawatt) or gas-powered plants ($950,000 per megawatt).

"We have already been given the Chinese government's consent to build 100 additional hydraulic power plants," said Aaron Bezalel, SDE's commercial director.

In 2005, SDE signed a $50 million deal with Yudean, also based in China, while a similar project is in the works with China's nuclear power Guangzhou plant.

SDE Managing Director Shmuel Ovadia said the company recently signed a $20-million deal with a San Francisco power company, another with the Gambian government and yet another with the Federated States of Micronesia.

Source: YNet news