Grants and Contributions:
Title:
Glacier: Utility-Scale Wave-powered Sustainable Desalination
Agreement Number:
1029422
Agreement Value:
$2,407,969.19
Agreement Date:
Mar 4, 2025 - Apr 30, 2026
Description:
UNICEF estimates that two billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate and that half the world’s population could be facing water scarcity by 2050. The world increasingly needs affordable, sustainable drinking water supplies at large volumes and is turning to conventional desalination, which is expensive, dirty, and unsustainable. Almost half the cost of traditional desalination pays for fuel, creating a carbon footprint that is on average 2.0 kg CO2e/m3 of water produced.
While the desalination industry uses seawater as an input, it does not take advantage of the immense energy in ocean waves proximal to the input resource. Using wave energy instead of fossil fuels to power desalination plants presents tremendous opportunities to reduce GHG emissions.
The project, led by Oneka Technologies, aims to scale up its wave-powered desalination buoys to utility-scale units, called “Glaciers”. The project will allow Oneka and its partners to deploy their redesigned hull & structure, design and deploy seabed anchoring approaches adapted to Glacier class buoys and develop operational and maintenance innovations at scale while serving as a platform to gather real-time operational data and market the technology to utility-scale users. The project will also allow the team to cost-engineer Glacier for competitiveness with the conventional desalination industry at any scale, consuming zero fossil fuels, producing zero operational emissions and using no land.
Organization:
National Research Council Canada
Expected Results:
The NRC-IRAP Clean Technology Program will support Canadian SMEs in the research and development of sustainable development technologies, up to their commercialization, with the potential to deliver economic and environmental outcomes.
Location:
Sherbrooke, Quebec, CA J1K 1B9
Reference Number:
172-2024-2025-Q4-1029422
Agreement Type:
Contribution
Report Type:
Grants and Contributions
Recipient Business Number:
802381582
Recipient Type:
For-profit organization
Recipient's Legal Name:
9320-9054 Quebec Inc (DBA Oneka Technologies)
Federal Riding Name:
Sherbrooke
Federal Riding Number:
24073
Program:
Industrial Research Assistance Program – Clean Technology
Program Purpose:
The NRC-IRAP Clean Technology Program will support Canadian SMEs in the research and development of sustainable development technologies, up to their commercialization, with the potential to deliver economic and environmental outcomes.
Coverage:
NRC-IRAP Clean Technology projects stimulate wealth creation for Canada through sustainable development technological innovation, while improving Canada’s environmental indicators related to greenhouse gas emissions (GCG), waste management, air quality or drinking water based on the types of sustainable development technologies that will be supported.│Les projets de technologies propres du PARI-CNRC stimulent la création de richesse pour le Canada grâce à l’innovation technologique en matière de développement durable, tout en améliorant les indicateurs environnementaux du Canada liés aux émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES), à la gestion des déchets, à la qualité de l’air ou à l’eau potable en fonction des types de technologies de développement durable qui seront soutenues.