Falmouth Could Host Searaser Wave Power Device Tests (UK)

There is a possibility for a Stroud based green energy company to test its wave power device in Falmouth, reports Falmouth Packet.

Last month, Ecotricity revealed that it is developing a radical Wave power device called Searaser, which is believed to be able to address two of the biggest barriers to the deployment of renewable energy on the scale that Britain needs – the issues of cost and intermittent output.

Searaser is the brainchild of British engineer Alvin Smith; it harnesses the power of ocean swells to create electricity.

Ecotricity founder Dale Vince said: “Our vision is for Britain’s electricity needs to be met entirely from the big three renewable energy sources – the Wind, the Sun and the Sea.

“Until now, the Sea has been the least viable of those three energy sources and we believe that Searaser will change all of that. Indeed, we believe Searaser has the potential to produce electricity at a lower cost than any other type energy, not just other forms of renewable energy but all ‘conventional’ forms of energy too.”

Searaser pumps seawater using a vertical piston between two buoys – one on the surface of the water, the other suspended underwater and tethered to a weight on the seabed. As the ocean swell moves the buoys up-and-down the piston pumps volumes of pressurized seawater through a pipe to an onshore turbine to produce electricity.

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Offshore WIND staff, February 03, 2012; Image: ecotricity