It is not very often that dignitaries gather for the champagne launch of a vessel that they hope will sink without trace, but the Ceto wave energy converter launched near Fremantle, Australia is designed to plunge to the bottom of the ocean and stay there.

Ceto is basically a steel box that sits on the sea bed and pumps seawater to the shore, where it can be used either to produce fresh water or to drive turbines for power generation. The converter measures about 20 metres by 4.5 metres and is capable of pumping water at a pressure of 1,000 psi. Each unit is expected to produce enough power for about a hundred homes.

While renewable energy research has focused mainly on wind turbines, supporters of wave power say that the energy within the oceans is a hundred times denser than that contained in other forms of renewable energy, such as wind or solar power. It is also more consistent: as any experienced diver will tell you, even when the surface of the ocean appears motionless the seaweed and the sand on the bottom is constantly moving.

According to the Australian inventor, Alan Burns, who has been working on wave energy development for a quarter of a century, Ceto's major advantage over rival wave energy prototypes will be its efficiency. Unlike other methods, which pipe water ashore before harnessing its power and lose substantial amounts of energy in the process, Ceto captures the power of the water in situ. As waves move over the top of the unit, they press down on a disc that transmits the force to pumps inside, which deliver pressurised water to the shore.

Ceto’s other main advantage comes from its location on the seabed. Most other methods of wave powered electricity generation involve placing devices on the surface of the sea, where they are exposed to the damaging effects of stormy weather and could pose a threat to shipping. The fully submerged Ceto converters could also be used in areas of natural beauty, where offshore wind turbines or surface-level wave converters would be unwelcome.

The company behind Ceto, Seapower Pacific, is owned by Renewable Energy Holdings, which is based in the Isle of Man and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its CEO, Michael Proffitt, explained that there is some way still to go before the device is commercially viable.

"We have set aside £1.5 million for what you see now, which is the commercial testing, so we'll be gathering data on the seabed for the next 12 months," he said. "That data will effectively design the commercial application, so this is more of a laboratory than the actual commercial unit."

The trial unit will be sunk close to the shore in just 7m (23ft) of water during the testing process, and will have an access tower that will rise above the surface of the sea. Commercial units would be located further off the coast, in deeper water.

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