• Canadian company Oneka Technologies has announced the opening of its subsidiary in Chile, following the successful demonstration of its wave energy-powered desalination technology in the country.

Oneka installed and successfully tested its demonstrator project for desalinating water using wave energy on the coast of Algarrobo, a seaside town in the central coast of Chile, some 80 kilometers from Chile’s capital, Santiago.

The initiative is aligned with the agreement between Canada and Chile on environmental cooperation, and in an event held last week, attended by governmental authorities of both nations, Oneka announced the opening of its subsidiary in Chile.

During the past six months, Oneka’s modular and scalable system, deployed at the local marina of Cofradía Náutica del Pacífico, showed the potential it has to provide fresh water to coastal communities by bringing water to the coastline that was produced solely using the power of the waves.

It was also able to demonstrate its capacity to survive harsh storms that can occur in Chile, Oneka noted.

Furthermore, the Canadian government announced an investment of Ca$4.9 million ($3.7 million) into Oneka’s Glacier – a utility-scale wave powered desalination project via Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Canada’s cleantech investment program.

The funding comes in addition to the investment from Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, which committed to provide Ca$6.7 million ($4.9 million) for the Ca$14.1 million ($10.3 million) scheme, with the balance coming from project partners.

Source: Offshore Energy.