Climate Insider Brief:
- The European Executive Agency on Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment (CINEA) has awarded Ocean Oasis €5.9 million under the Circular Economy and Quality of Life Programme to support the DESALIFE project, which will develop wave-powered desalination buoys off Gran Canaria starting January 2025.
- The DESALIFE project aims to deploy a fleet of desalination buoys to supply fresh water to 15,000 people in Gran Canaria, with a focus on proving and validating zero-emission desalination technology.
- The project involves key partners including ITC, PLOCAN, GRRES at ULPGC, and ellitoral. The first pre-commercial buoys are projected to produce freshwater by mid-2026, with plans to scale and replicate the technology in other water-scarce regions.
In a significant move to advance sustainable water solutions, the European Executive Agency on Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment (CINEA) has awarded Ocean Oasis a grant of €5.9 million. This funding, provided under the Circular Economy and Quality of Life Programme, will support the innovative DESALIFE project, spearheaded by Ocean Oasis Canarias, a subsidiary of the Norwegian company Ocean Oasis based in Gran Canaria.
The DESALIFE project, set to commence on January 1, 2025, aims to revolutionize desalination technology by deploying a fleet of wave-powered desalination buoys off the coast of Gran Canaria. The project’s primary objective is to develop and validate a zero-emission desalination technology through a pilot program at the Arucas-Moya desalination plant. This initiative is expected to supply fresh water to approximately 15,000 residents of the Spanish island.
Central to DESALIFE’s mission is the establishment of a scalable and replicable desalination solution that leverages wave energy. The project will not only demonstrate the technology’s effectiveness but also assess its potential for expansion to other regions facing water scarcity with suitable wave energy resources. The results from DESALIFE are anticipated to contribute to the creation of new intellectual property and foster further advancements in desalination technology.
The consortium leading the DESALIFE project includes prominent institutions such as the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC), the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), the Group for the Research on Renewable Energy Systems (GRRES) at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), and the environmental consultancy elittoral. The collaboration aims to have pre-commercial buoys generating fresh water by mid-2026.
The European Commission projects that DESALIFE will produce approximately 1.662 million cubic meters of emission-free fresh water during its pilot phase, significantly reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 2,379 tons of CO2 equivalents through the use of renewable wave energy.
Kristine Bangstad Fredriksen, CEO and Co-founder of Ocean Oasis, emphasized the project’s broader significance: “At Ocean Oasis, we believe that renewable energy, particularly wave power, holds the key to a future where clean water is both accessible and abundant. The DESALIFE project represents a significant step forward in demonstrating our technology’s potential, not just for the Canary Islands, but for coastal communities worldwide.”
The DESALIFE initiative builds on the success of Ocean Oasis’s previous pilot, the Gaia buoy, which was deployed in November 2022 near the Port of Las Palmas. Supported by co-funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, Innovation Norway, and other funders, Gaia has validated the company’s technology and paved the way for the forthcoming large-scale deployment.
As Europe invests in this pioneering technology, the DESALIFE project stands as a testament to the potential of wave energy-powered desalination in addressing global water challenges and advancing environmental sustainability.
SOURCE: Offshore Energy
Featured Image: Credit: Ocean Oasis
