In view of the technological uncertainty of the other concepts only the artificial island and the polder were selected for further evaluation and cost estimation. As it is questionable whether concessions can be obtained to dredge the large quantities of sand which are required for the construction of artificial islands and also because the estimated cost of an artificial island for a 160 km2 rectenna site are well above the cost of a polder, only the polder concept was finally retained for further detailed analysis. An artist’s view of the “energy polder” as suggested for location off the coast of Holland is shown in Fig. 6. The polder has an area of 174 km2 and a perimeter of 50 km. The basic principle of building a polder is that an area of water is first enclosed by a dike and then the water inside is pumped out. Twenty-five hundred
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