Mr Vaz, who set up GVWT Energy Limited to produce the wind vane turbines, is now in talks with business partners, including a developer in Indonesia who is keen to use the turbine to convert seawater into methanol, a cheap alternative to other fossil fuels and already used instead of diesel in cars in China. "I won't say what inspired the idea but I saw an opportunity to create a cost-effective design. The sails are the type used by yachts and will be made in the US while the turbine will be manufactured in China," he said.

The aim is to use the system in wind farms to provide the energy needed to produce methanol, but at a cheaper rate than when petrol or diesel is used for the purpose. Methanol is produced by extracting hydrogen and oxygen from seawater, for example, before being fed into a catalytic converter.