Oneka Technologies secures $3.4 million DOE wave-desalination funding

Oneka Technologies received $3.4 million from the US Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office to advance wave-powered desalination. The award highlights emerging marine-energy desalination as a climate-resilient water solution relevant to coastal and disaster-prone regions, including parts of India.

Oneka Technologies, which uses renewable wave energy to convert seawater into freshwater, received $3.4 million from the DOE Water Power Technologies Office's Powering the Blue Economy Initiative to develop its Icecube project and marine energy subsystems. The funding covers two projects: $2 million for the Oneka IceCube emergency-relief desalination device, improving cost-effectiveness and commercialisation readiness, and $1.4 million for subcomponent innovations including a self-cleaning seawater intake system and optimised hydraulic components to cut maintenance costs.

Coastal communities and disaster-relief operators are the intended beneficiaries, as the emission-free technology offers cost-effective drinking water particularly in disaster-affected areas. The DOE's investment in marine energy systems advances Oneka's wave-powered approach, which avoids the emissions of conventional desalination. The two funded workstreams target both emergency-relief deployment and core subsystem efficiency, broadening the technology's applicability for regions needing resilient, off-grid freshwater production powered solely by ocean waves.

Water-stressed and coastal economies, including India, should monitor the maturation of wave-powered desalination as an emission-free alternative to energy-intensive conventional methods. Stakeholders can track Oneka's progress toward commercialisation under the DOE grants and the US goal of a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, with which these projects align. Disaster-management and water authorities evaluating off-grid desalination should watch the IceCube device's deployment methods and the self-cleaning intake system's efficiency gains.

Key figure — DOE funding: $3.4 million ($2 million IceCube, $1.4 million subcomponents)