© Searaser/Ecotricity

Not too long ago, Mat posted about the Searaser wave power generator—a device that uses the power of sea swells to pump water uphill and generate electricity on land.

At the time, Mat had some reservations about scalability (and the name!), but he suggested it might be one to keep an eye on.

Wind Energy Pioneer Dives into the Waves

And that observation still holds true, because it's just been announced that Searaser has been purchased by wind energy pioneers Ecotricity, the same folks who have brought us stunning urban wind turbines, vegan biogas marketed direct to the consumer, and whose CEO Dale Vince has made Britain's rich list by building a wind energy empire.

More from Mr Vince about the potential of the Searaser:

“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.”

Because Searaser produces electricity on land, not sea, its inventor Alvin Smith claims it circumvents one of the biggest existing barriers to wave energy—the harsh marine environment and its impact on generating equipment.

A Track Record of Delivering

Whether the Searaser lives up to its potential remains to be seen, but Ecotricity have a record of taking small green things and making them pretty darned big. In fact the entire company started from one wind-energy testing tower that Dale Vince built outside the truck he was living in. So when the company's press release states that it is gunning for a commercial scale Searaser in the sea within 12 months, and 200 Searaser units around the British coastline within five years, we might just need to take him seriously.