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Meet the underwater Anaconda snake that could solve our energy problems
Last updated at 02:16am on 04.07.08
Looking like something out of a Fifties B-movie, it slithers and slides through the waves.
But far from being a deadly predator, the 600ft-long rubber sea snake could one day be the answer to the country's energy crisis.
The device - named the Anaconda after the large snake that lives in water - is a wave power generator, which converts the rise and fall of the oceans into cheap, green electricity.
How the devices might look in the sea
Its creators say it could offer a reliable alternative to the thousands of wind turbines due to be built in the next decade.
Professors Francis Farley and Rod Rainey, the snake's inventors, predict that, if tests continue to be successful, the first 'Anaconda farms' could be built within five years.
The device, which is 20ft wide, is made up of a long rubber tube, closed at both ends and filled with water.
Designed to be anchored with one end facing the oncoming waves, it should be used in water between 120ft and 300ft deep, typically about one or two miles from shore.
Because it is made of rubber - meaning it is lighter than other wave generators and does not need complicated hydraulic ramps, hinges and articulated joints - it is cheaper to build and needs less maintenance.
A computer-generated image shows a 'snake farm', each Anaconda providing 'green' energy
Tests using small-scale models of the device at Southampton University suggest each Anaconda could provide one megawatts - enough to provide energy for a few hundred homes.
Project director Tom Roach said the best sites for the farms would be off the west coast of Scotland and Ireland, or the South-West of England.
'It works best where you have these large sea swells generated over long distances,' he added. 'They would have little environmental impact because they're designed to float below the surface.'
He said a study by the Government's-Carbon Trust found the Anaconda tubes could produce electricity more cheaply than offshore wind farms.
Professor John Chaplin, who is leading the research, said: The Anaconda could make a valuable contribution to environmental protection by encouraging the use of wave power.'
Snakes Alive! Each Anaconda could create enough electricity to power 'a few hundred homes'
The snakes would be placed in water between 120 and 300 feet deep, and would be submerged under the surface
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