Making waves: UK firm harnesses power of the sea ... in Portugal

From a distance, they look like nothing more than thin red lines on the horizon, easily lost amid the tumbling blue of the Atlantic Ocean. But get closer and the significance of the 140m-long tubes - 10 years in the making by a British company and now floating in the sea off the coast of Portugal - becomes apparent: they are the beginning of an entirely new industry in the hunt for clean power.

This week the red snake-like devices were inaugurated as part of the world's first commercial-scale wave power station, three miles from the coast of the northern Portuguese town of Aguçadoura. The project, which will generate clean electricity for more than 1,000 family homes in its first phase, marks the latest step in Portugal's moves to become a leader in developing renewable energy sources, using technology developed in Britain.

At the heart of the Aguçadoura power station are three cylindrical wave-energy converters, designed and built by the Edinburgh-based company Pelamis Wave Power. Moving up and down on the endless waves of the open sea, they convert motion into electricity, without emitting any of the carbon dioxide that is warming the planet.