UPDATE NEWS: APRIL 2012

Following on from the additional tests at Strathclyde University carried out earlier this year, Black and Veatch have now delivered their independent report. This report confirms our initial and preliminary assessment that a further significant reduction in the cost of energy is achievable.

The results are now being fed into the consolidated business plan and financial model, the completion of which will pave the way for the launch of the previously heralded equity participation round.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Anaconda Testing at Strathclyde University

The efforts of the project team are bearing significant results, discussions are moving into an advanced stage with strategic investors and we expect to make further announcements in due course.

Following an in depth review of all the recorded tank testing data it was decided to carry out a further tank test at Strathclyde University, the aim of this test was to ascertain the optimum size of the device when manufactured at full scale.

The results of these tests are very encouraging, so much so that the team head back to Strathclyde in early January for what should be a final proving round. Once the data from these tests is analysed and the resulting information fed into the financial model, progress will then be made on presenting Anaconda to the investment community.

Anaconda – An update.

It’s been a busy few months for Checkmate Seaenergy.

Having won support from Carbon Trust back in 2009, the team has been locked in talks with potential investors in an attempt to raise the necessary funds to take the project to the next stage. To aid this process, Brewin Dolphin was appointed financial advisor in January with the aim of raising a pre-float of £6m to build the biggest rubber tube ever made. This comes after an independent review by international consulting engineers Black & Veatch who stated that Anaconda will indeed be one of the most cost-effective ways of converting wave energy into usable energy. Des Crampton, chief executive at Checkmate Seaenergy hopes that the pre-float budget will allow the team to create a full-size device.

“We are working with Brewin Dolphin to help achieve full commercialisation of the Anaconda Wave Energy Converter”, explains Crampton. “We believe Anaconda will offer a cost effective means to capture the enormous amount of energy available globally in offshore waters and can play an important part in achieving the UK’s climate change target of at least 15 per cent of energy generation to come from renewable sources by 2020.” Anaconda’s unique ability to harness wave energy has global benefits with potential sites identified in the UK, Europe, Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall has also shown a lot of interest and enthusiasm in the project . The Minister of State underscored the Coalition Government’s position to support, in a constructive and proactive fashion, the fledgling marine renewables industry and he noted that, assisted by The Carbon Trust, very promising results had been achieved demonstrating that Anaconda has serious potential to drive down the cost of energy in the sector.

New Power Wave Heads Out to Sea

An article focused on the future of Wave Energy published by the New Scientist, features Anaconda by Checkmate Seaenergy.

Read the full article at the New Scientist site here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128276.100-new-power-wave-heads-out-to-sea.html?full=true

An explosion of designs for harvesting wave energy could make the process competitive at last – and they’re heading out to the ocean for testing

WRINGING electricity from the sea is no small task. But as firms start to test their wave-energy harvesters in the open ocean that could be about to change.

Heaving water holds 40 times more energy than air moving at the same speed, and sea states change more slowly than breezes, making it easier for utilities to predict the availability of energy. Yet the tools needed to make use of the sea’s energy are gargantuan.

“If you can get that sort of level of performance improvement then the economics suddenly start to look a lot more favourable,” says Stephen Wyatt, head of technology acceleration at The Carbon Trust, a UK-government-funded organisation charged with catalysing a low-carbon economy.

A study published by The Carbon Trust in July estimated the cost of energy harvested from waves at 43 pence per kilowatt-hour, or almost three times the cost of offshore wind. To become cost competitive with other sources of renewable energy, companies will have to find ways to squeeze more power out of their devices, says Wyatt.

One of the most promising, according to a three-year study by The Carbon Trust, is Anaconda by Checkmate Seaenergy, based in Sheerness, UK. This is a snake-like rubber tube filled with water that floats just below the surface. As waves hit the front of the device they squeeze the tube, creating a bulge of water that travels along it. When the bulge reaches the end, the pressurised water drives a turbine.

An 8-metre long prototype has been tested, but the firm says it will be several years before its full-scale 1-megawatt device, which would be 150 metres long, is ready.

With such devices arriving with increasing frequency, it’s too early to tell which technology will win out in the end. “That is part of the excitement,” Kermode says. “It may be something completely new or variations on something we have already seen.”

Sir James Dyson: UK has potential to capture a quarter of the global marine-energy market

Sir James Dyson, Times columnist and founder of technology company Dyson today suggested that the UK has the potential to supply marine-energy solutions to as much as one quarter of the world, and export some of the country’s home-grown talent and engineering prowess in the process.

In his article in The Times, entitled Who’s Afraid of Big Energy Projects?
We Are, Dyson makes reference to the increasing number of internationally-sourced energy solutions appearing on our shores, and suggests that we need to step up our game in order to compete in this increasingly important environment.

French firm EDF will be building the next generation nuclear power plants on British soil while Scira Offshore Energy – a Norwegian-led operation – was responsible for the £1 billion windfarm, Sheringham Shoal, just off the coast of Norfolk.

According to The Carbon Trust, the UK is poised to take a significant chunk of the marine-energy pie, creating more than 68,000 jobs by 2050. And it’s projects like Anaconda that will help us get there.

Indeed, in his article, Dyson states that “Anaconda – giant rubber sea snakes that make energy from wave motion – [is] the kind of technology that we could export to the world.”

Source – The Times 29th July 2011 (Subscribers only)

Report – May 27, 2011

Checkmate Seaenergy is pleased to announce the appointment of leading accountants BDO as advisors to the company ahead of its forthcoming fundraising that is due to be launched this summer.

Further details will be made available in respect of the timetable for fundraising during June by the company’s financial advisor Brewin Dolphin.

Report – February 16, 2011

Des Crampton, South African boss of green energy hopeful Checkmate Group, is hoping that broker Brewin Dolphin will help his company raise a pre-float £6 million to build the biggest rubber tube ever made. Checkmate has the rights to the ‘Anaconda’ system, which can transfer energy of waves through an underwater tube into a shoreline turbine for conversion into usable electricity, and Crampton wants to make a full-scale prototype to demonstrate its potential.

An engineer with experience at South Africa’s Anglo American conglomerate and Highveld Steel and a former chief engineer at Sheerness Steel and director of Mersey Docks in Britain, Crampton is working with Checkmate chairman Paul Auston, an ex-mariner with wide knowledge of maritime and cargo lifting.

His aim is to commercialise the proprietary Anaconda technology, invented by Rod Rainey, visiting professor at University College London and Southampton University and an expert on floating offshore structures, and experimental physicist Professor Francis Farley, who has worked on wave energy for 35 years.

According to Crampton, Checkmate has devised a unique mechanism for putting wave energy into rubber tubes, which has been tested in Scoltand and has won backing from the Carbon Trust. He claims it will prove much cheaper than any rival schemes and will not necessarily depend on the frequency of big waves and rough seas.

If he and Brewin can conjure the initial £6 million from investors, the plan is to raise £18 million in a public float to make Anaconda wave power a profitable player.

Article Source – Growth Company Investor Journal

Report – January 18, 2011

Checkmate Seaenergy appoints Brewin Dolphin as Financial Adviser

Anaconda moving to commercialisation

Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd., the company developing the latest green energy technology to exploit wave power, has appointed Brewin Dolphin as Financial Adviser. Brewin Dolphin will lead an initial funding round to enable the company to develop the unique Anaconda Wave Energy Converter (“Anaconda”) as it moves to commercialisation.

Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. holds the sole global licence to develop Anaconda – a patented and unique invention designed to harness wave energy. Anaconda is made almost entirely of rubber and sits just below the sea’s surface. Anaconda is designed to harness wave energy along the length of its rubber tube, in turn driving a turbine attached at the down-wave end, to produce electricity.

An independent review by international consulting engineers Black & Veatch has been commissioned by the Carbon Trust and confirms Anaconda’s very competitive cost of energy. Anaconda can be deployed globally with potential sites identified in the UK, Europe, Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

Des Crampton, Chief Executive of Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. said, “We are working with Brewin Dolphin to help achieve full commercialisation of the Anaconda Wave Energy Converter.

“We believe Anaconda will offer a cost-effective means to capture the enormous amount of energy available globally in offshore waters and can play an important part in achieving the UK’s climate change target of at least 15 per cent of energy generation to come from renewable sources by 2020.”

Sandy Fraser, Managing Director at Brewin Dolphin, said, “We are delighted to be appointed as financial adviser to Checkmate Seaenergy and look forward to assisting the company to secure the necessary funding for commercialisation of the Anaconda device.”

For more information, please contact:
Blythe Weigh Communications

Brewin Dolphin Limited

Notes to Editors

1. Checkmate Seaenergy
   Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. is developing the Anaconda wave energy converter to harness environmentally friendly power.
2. Anaconda
   Invented by Professor Francis Farley and Professor Rod Rainey of WS Atkins, the Anaconda is a unique system for harnessing wave energy. Bulge waves travel the length of the rubber tube before driving a turbine at the end of the tube. The Anaconda has recently completed quarter scale development and testing.

   Anaconda won funding for further development in the Carbon Trust’s Marine Energy Challenge in 2007 and has also recently been awarded an Applied Research and Development grant by Carbon Trust.

   Anaconda is unique, being made almost entirely from rubber, and is protected by patents in Europe, US, Canada and South Africa.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Report – December 1, 2010

On Monday November 17, Paul Auston, Des Crampton and Sir Roger Moate met with Charles Hendry MP – the Minister of State in the Department of Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall London to brief the minister on the rapid progress to date of the Anaconda wave energy converter. A number of issues were covered in an extensive and wide-ranging discussion including future financing, investor awareness,employment opportunities, feed in tariffs and ROCs.

The Minister expressed his admiration of the work being carried out in marine renewables. He was supportive, helpful and enthusiastic and offered important guidance that will be of assistance as the project moves forward on the road to commercialisation. The Minister underscored the Coalition Government’s position to support, in a constructive and proactive fashion, the fledgling marine renewables industry and he noted, that assisted by The Carbon Trust, very promising results had been achieved demonstrating that Anaconda has serious potential to drive down the cost of energy in the sector.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Report – November 17, 2010

We are pleased to advise that Black and Veatch has now delivered the IDA update report commissioned by the Carbon Trust. The report is, in effect, an independent technical due diligence summarising in detail the full series of wave tank trials and includes the results of fatigue testing the 1/25 scale unit that took place at Strathclyde University, Kelvin Hydrodynamics facility during the late summer this year.

Checkmate Seaenergy are delighted with the results that have confirmed commercial viability and offer an excitingly competitive cost of energy.

The appointment of the companies CFA, (Corporate Financial Advisor) is well advanced with detailed discussions taking place with the short listed firms and the company hope to be in a position to make a further announcement confirming the appointment shortly.

Report – July 30, 2010

The full business case document has been completed and has been issued to those CFAs who have registered an interest in working with Checkmate Seaenergy to complete the first round of equity fundraising.

A further announcement will be made in early September once the CFA has been selected. Ahead of the fundraising process Blytheweigh Communications – a London-based PR firm have been appointed to support Checkmate Seaenergy in raising the profile of the company and the significant benefits of wave energy generated electricity.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Report – June 30, 2010

Checkmate Seaenergy is pleased to announce that the data collected from the recent round of Strathclyde University wave tank tests, which were specifically designed to test fatigue life and power output, have been completed.

We are delighted with the outcome of the tests which prove that the Anaconda wave energy converter captures wave energy at an excitingly economic cost.

Checkmate Seaenergy is updating its full business plan and financial information ahead of presentation to investors during the summer. In the meantime the operational team continues to work on design and development of a quarter scale and quarter size device.

We expect to make a further announcement in early July regarding the fund-raising timetable.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Report – May 30, 2010

The first four months of 2010 have witnessed a period of intense activity. This has involved further tank tests, utilising the sophisticated facilities available at Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

The device underwent a series of tests designed to assess the fatigue life of Anaconda when deployed. These tests have now been completed and finalised today. The next few weeks will be spent collating all the data gathered and this will then be passed to Messrs Black and Veatch – the international consulting engineers that Checkmate Seaenergy and Carbon Trust have chosen to conduct a fully independent review of the technology in preparation for an approach to prospective investors.

Carbon Trust, the UK Government’s renewable energy agency continues to be supportive in all aspects of the project going forward.

We were delighted to note that when interviewed by a British national newspaper recently, Sir James Dyson – the noted inventor and entrepreneur – named the Anaconda device as being one of his four great innovations in Britain today. A copy of the article is available on our media page.

Following on from the presentation made in Washington DC at the Economist Carbon Summit in November 2009, there has been a great deal of interest in the device from North America. Checkmate Seaenergy was delighted by an approach from Bloomberg TV and then a visit from a film crew who wanted to follow Checkmate Seaenergy’s progress to date for the Bloomberg TV series New Energy Pioneers. It is being broadcast in the USA at 9.00 p.m. and 11.00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday May 13 and repeated on Friday May 14. It is also possible to see the show on the Bloomberg website under Innovators, Episode 5 New Energy Pioneers. The link is http://preview.bloomberg.com/tv/shows/innovators

Checkmate Seaenergy expects to conduct the first round of fundraising during the Summer of 2010 and more information on this will be made available on the website in June.

In the meantime development and manufacture of the quarter scale and quarter-size devices continues with a view to deploying these devices in the ocean for trials at the earliest possible opportunity.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Carbon Trust Innovation Case Study

Read the Carbon Trust’s Innovations Case Study on the Anaconda.

Carbon Trust Innovations Case Study

Report – December 12, 2009

The Carbon Trust has been promoting promising technology in various renewable energy sectors. We are delighted that the Checkmate Seaenergy Anaconda device has been selected. As a result, the November 21 edition of The Week  car

Report – November 30, 2009

Today, Paul Auston and Des Crampton met with Lord Hunt OBE of Kings Heath, the Minister of State in the Department of Energy and Climate Change in Whitehall to brief the minister on the rapid progress of the Anaconda wave energy converter.

A number of issues were covered in an extensive and wide-ranging discussion including financing, investor awareness, employment opportunities, feed in tariffs and ROCs. The Minister was helpful and enthusiastic and offered important guidance that will be of assistance as the project moves forward on the road to commercialisation.

Report – November 17, 2009

The Economist invited Checkmate Seaenergy to showcase the Anaconda project in Washington DC in November. Checkmate Seaenery was the only wave energy converter to be so honoured. Attending the Carbon Summit at the Ronald Regan building was Carol Browner, President Obama’s Director of Energy and Climate Change at The White House.

Paul Auston attended and presented Anaconda, saying ” The USA offers a major potential market for the Anaconda device; if only 10% of the available Oregon coast was used by Anaconda it would result in clean energy for over 4million US homes”. The audience expressed serious interest and the questions asked were thoughtful and incisive. We are grateful to The Economists technical team for this unique opportunity.

The Story So Far

Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. holds the exclusive licence to commercialise the patented Anaconda wave energy converter. The company was established in 2007 and currently has a number of engineers working full-time on the development programme. This small team is based at the site of sister company Checkmate Flexible Engineering in Melksham, Wiltshire.

So far the development programme has concentrated on proof-of-concept testing of 1:25 scale models of Anaconda in the wave tank facilities at QinetiQ’s Haslar Marine Technology Park at Gosport in Hampshire.

Three two-week sets of tests have shown conclusively that the Anaconda technology can harness wave energy. To date, two different 1:25 scale power take-off devices have been built and tested. In the first type, the bulges from the rubber tube created two columns of water of different heights. When water flowed from one column to the other, the hydraulic power could be measured. This large device was fixed to the overhead carriage of the wave tank and although it measured the hydraulic power very accurately, it did not represent the free floating device that would ultimately be required.

A new design of a free floating power take off was then developed in March 2009. In this second type of power take-off device, the power is measured by establishing a flow between two rubber accumulators. This allows the power take-off to float freely together with the rubber bulge tube as it would in normal operating conditions.

In parallel with the tank testing at Haslar, the Anaconda team (with support from the Carbon Trust) has been researching and developing the rubber-based technology at the heart of this novel device. Significant progress has been made and the team has established a small experimental water tank at Melksham allowing various scaled-down prototype Anaconda components to be evaluated and tested.

Project Plan

The cost of Checkmate Seaenergy’s development work continues to be borne ultimately, by its founding shareholder. The company intends to launch a fund raising round with financial institutions and independent investors in early 2010. This will allow a full engineering development programme to begin, leading to the commercialisation of the device.
In early 2008 Checkmate Seaenergy was pleased to see Anaconda selected from among several competing wave energy devices to receive financial support from the Carbon Trust’s Marine Energy Accelerator programme. This support has mainly taken the form of consultancy services and has run alongside the technical programme described above. It has also allowed the project to benefit from Carbon Trust’s Incubator scheme which helps start-up companies develop to a state of investment readiness. In our case this has led to the preparation of a detailed and fully costed technology development programme together with a full business plan.

We are particularly pleased with the support from the Carbon Trust. They are a powerful voice in the renewable energy sector, and with the benefit of their support and experience we have been able to push the project forward. You can find out more about their activities at www.carbontrust.co.uk .

Independent Review

Checkmate Seaenergy has chosen to invite a fully independent review of its technology in preparation for the approach to prospective investors. The team feel such a report will give interested investors a realistic and independent assessment of Anaconda’s commercial prospects and will therefore aid the fundraising process. Carbon Trust is supporting this approach and has assisted in the appointment of the leading firm of international consulting engineers Black & Veatch to conduct the study.

Black & Veatch have recently completed a review of Checkmate Seaenergy’s test reports and have suggested that one further short round of tests be conducted. These tests will no longer be concerned with proof of concept as this is now considered proven. They will, however, focus on the power performance of Anaconda leading to a more accurate prediction of the power output of the full scale device. The testing is scheduled for one week during mid October and will enable Black and Veatch to provide a detailed estimate of Anaconda’s cost of energy which will form the basis of our business plan and investment case.

Risk Warning

This communication is issued in the UK by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd. (“the Company”). This communication is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any shares in Company. No such offer or solicitation will be made except pursuant to a prospectus or information memorandum or other offering document if and when issued by the Company.

Anaconda Demonstration

Checkmate Seaenergy will be  demonstrating  Anaconda and giving the media and investment communities the opportunity to meet the  team behind the project. There will be also be an opportunity to discuss investment potential and register interest in this impressive and exciting new development. The demonstration will take place on Tuesday May 5 at the QinetiQ Haslar Marine Technology Park in Gosport – the old Royal Navy Ship Tank. A 1:25 scale unit will be working in the facility.  There will be a presentation on Anaconda at 13.00.

HRH The Duke of York Previews Anaconda

HRH The Duke of York was given a preview of the Anaconda Wave Energy Converter on April 21, ahead of its official launch on May 5 in Portsmouth. He was deeply interested in the presentations made by the team led by Chief Executive Des Crampton about the technology behind this innovative new concept and asked a number of questions about the components.

He was also very keen to be kept informed about the development of Anaconda. Paul Auston, Chairman of Checkmate, said: “I think the visit went really well and it was a great event. Prince Andrew seemed to be really interested in what we are doing and in the potential of Anaconda to generate renewable energy from sea waves not just in the UK but around the World.”

The positive effect upon future job creation within Britain and the wider export opportunities were not lost on His Royal Highness.