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Ecotricity invests in Devon inventor's seawater generator

A Devon inventor’s electricity from seawater generator could be sited at 200 points around the UK coastline.

Energy firm Ecotricity wants to develop a commercial Searaser for testing off Falmouth in Cornwall and put hundreds around the coast in five years.

Dale Vince of Ecotricity said the potential was “enormous”.

The Searaser machine works by using wave energy to pump water up to container tanks and the water is then released to a hydro-electric turbine.

Searaser is the brainchild of British engineer Alvin Smith from Dartmouth.

He came up with the idea about 10 years ago while he was playing with an inflatable ball in a swimming pool.

The machines will protrude about 1m above sea level

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.