A device that harnesses the power of the sea to push water uphill has been developed to provide cheap renewable electricity. The invention is designed to pump water hundreds of feet above sea level from where it can gush downhill to drive hydroelectric generators.
Pumping is made possible by the motion of waves lifting the device, Searaser, as it floats in the sea, and gravity bringing it down again in the wave troughs. A prototype has just completed tests in which it pumped water more than 160ft (50m) uphill through a pipe the diameter of a saucer. The full-size device is expected to pump water through a pipe the diameter of a dustbin lid up at least 650ft (200m) – or easily enough to clear the top of Beachy Head, which is 530ft (160m) high.
