The prototype will be tested off the coast of the Canary Islands, which suffer from a lack of drinking water.
Norwegian startup Ocean Oasis has unveiled a prototype floating seawater desalination plant. The device receives energy from ocean waves, reports CNBC.
The installation, called Gaia, is a three-story building and weighs about 100 tons.
According to the creators of Ocean Oasis, their development will turn sea water into fresh water and supply it to residents of coastal areas through electricity generated by waves.
Gaia trials will take place in the Canary Islands in Spain. The archipelago suffers from constant water scarcity due to poor rainfall, high soil permeability, and overexploitation of the aquifer.
In this regard, there are already several desalination projects in the Canaries, but they all depend on fossil fuels, the burning of which harms the environment and climate.
While the energy potential of offshore waves is generating hype, the scale of wave and tidal projects remains very small compared to other renewable energy sources.
According to the research organization Ocean Energy Europe, in 2021 in Europe, the capacity of tidal installations was 2.2 megawatts. For comparison, for the same line in European countries, wind turbines with a total capacity of 17.4 gigawatts were installed – almost 8 thousand times more compared to wave energy.