14 DAY TRIAL // UK-based enterprise Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. is currently working on a new device meant to augment the electricity-producing abilities of wave-powered plants on shorelines, officials from the company have announced recently. The new instrument they've developed is an anaconda-shaped device, which is able to pick up the fluctuations in the waves, and then turn them into electricity. A prototype of the innovation is already undergoing testing in the 270-meter-long test basin at the Qinetiq company.
The 8-meter-long preliminary version is a small-scale variant of the system, which has a pretty basic principle of operation. The basic component of the anaconda-like system is a rubber hose, which is filled with water. Over the length of the tube, waves coming in from the sea push the water inside the tube towards its end, generating bulges that travel on the tube walls. As they go forward, their speed and energy increase, and, after they reach the end of the tube, they power an electrical turbine, which produces electricity.
“We've seen excellent results in scale-model testing, and now we are gearing up to attract the necessary investment to develop Anaconda and begin producing the first full-sized units for ocean testing within the next three years,” the Chairman of Checkmate, Paul Auston, told the BBC News.
“The UK is known for its engineering excellence and politicians from all parties have been keen on challenging companies to come up with renewable energy projects that can be sold around the world. With Anaconda, we have an invention that changes conventional thinking and it can help meet government targets for cutting CO2 by providing renewable wave energy from our coastal waters. It will also help cement the UK's world-leading position in this technology,” he added.
His company is now working hard to raise about seven million British pounds, or $10.5 million, from investors willing to place their bets on constructing a large-scale, sea-worthy version of the anaconda system.
“The beauty of wave energy is its consistency. However, the problem holding back wave energy machines is that devices tend to deteriorate over time in the harsh marine environment. Anaconda is non-mechanical. It is mainly rubber, a natural material with a natural resilience, and so has very few moving parts to maintain,” Professor Rod Rainey, who is an expert at the Atkins consultancy firm, and also the co-inventor of the device, explained.