The European Union has granted nearly €6 million to a consortium led by the Norwegian company Ocean Oasis to advance wave energy-powered desalination technology. The funding, awarded by the European Executive Agency on Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment (CINEA) under the Circular Economy and Quality of Life Programme, aims to enhance the supply of desalinated water through floating buoys off the coast of Gran Canaria, Spain.

The project, named Desalination for Environmental Sustainability and LIFE (DESALIFE), will be spearheaded by Ocean Oasis Canarias, a subsidiary of Ocean Oasis based in Gran Canaria. The initiative is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2025, with the objective of building and deploying the first fleet of offshore desalination buoys to provide water for approximately 15,000 people on the Spanish island.

The DESALIFE project seeks to qualify, prove, and validate a zero-emission desalination technology by piloting a small fleet of full-scale buoys at the Arucas-Moya desalination plant in the Canary Islands. According to the European Commission, the project is expected to produce 1.662 million cubic meters of emission-free fresh water during its piloting phase, thereby avoiding the release of approximately 2,379 tons of CO2 equivalents by utilizing the renewable energy of ocean waves.

Ocean Oasis’ desalination buoys generate freshwater through a membrane-based process powered by wave-induced motion, eliminating the need for grid power, emissions, and chemicals. The DESALIFE project will also focus on the replicability and scalability of this innovative technology in other water-scarce regions with wave energy potential, as well as the exploitation of project results and the development of new intellectual property.

Kristine Bangstad Fredriksen, CEO and Co-founder of Ocean Oasis, expressed optimism about the project, stating, "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 consortium behind DESALIFE includes 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 Gran Canaria Island Water Council, represented by its vice president, Miguel Hidalgo, is also a key participant, highlighting the project’s alignment with regional hydrological planning and the promotion of renewable energy resources like wave power.

Ocean Oasis previously deployed a pilot buoy, Gaia, near the Port of Las Palmas in November 2022 to validate the technology. This effort was supported by co-funding from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, Innovation Norway, and other funders. The DESALIFE consortium aims to have the first pre-commercial buoys producing freshwater by mid-2026, marking a significant milestone in the journey toward sustainable water solutions.