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Last Updated: Tuesday May 04 2010 16:12 GMT

Ricky investigates water power!

sea snake

Most of our electricity comes from huge power stations across the UK.

They're mainly powered by coal or oil, but there are many other ways of producing power.

I headed to Edinburgh in Scotland where experts are developing a new cleaner method of making electricity - using the power of the sea.

They've been nicknamed 'sea snakes' because they're really long and winding and they create electricity from the ocean's waves.

Politicians there have given the go ahead to launch a number of power stations that sit on sea.

A collection of giant metal tubes sit on the surface of the water, and as the waves hit them, they move up and down.

That movement is converted into electricity which is sent back to shore through large cables that sit on the surface of the seabed.

Ricky on a wave machine!

The project is still in its early stages, with engineers in Edinburgh putting the final touches to the wave machines before they are sent out to work in the North Sea.

Once they're in place, experts reckon each wave machine could generate enough power to run 500 homes.

I got a closer look at one of the wave machines, which was floating on the water in a shipping yard in Edinburgh.

I even managed to walk inside one of the giant metal tubes which was really bizarre.


Inside the wave machine it was really dark and all I could hear was the echo of my voice.

There were lots of computers and wires all over the place and I had to be really careful wherever I stood.

Filming down there was pretty tough, but it was SO exciting to see how the power of the ocean could one day produce lots of electricity that will eventually be used by us in our homes in dry land.