Simple Magenet Generator Creates Energy From Waves.

Hugh-Peter Kelly, the founder of Trident Energy, a small British company based in Southend-on-Sea has come up with a simple twist that may make propell wave energy into a major business. His invention uses the up and down motion of a floating buoy to move an electrical coil along a stack of magnets, which generates an alternating current in the coil--about as simple a generator as you can get.

"At a stroke you get rid of all the hydraulics that the rotary generators used by other wave power devices need," Kelly commented.

In July, Kelly tested a one-fifth scale model of the generator in a large wave tank at the New and Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, Northumberland. Results show that each full-scale generator should supply up to 100 kilowatts of power.

Kelly calculates that a wave farm covering at most 1.5 square kilometres would generate about 100 megawatts of power: the equivalent of a small power station.