Marsa Alam to Get a Solar-Powered Desalination Plant Producing 10,000 Cubic Metres a Day

A solar-powered seawater desalination plant with a design capacity of 10,000 cubic metres a day is being launched in Marsa Alam, according to the Egyptian outlet Al-Nahar.

The report gives the capacity figure and the power source. It does not give the rest, and the gaps are worth stating plainly. Al-Nahar did not report:

• where in Marsa Alam the plant will be built
• what it will cost, or who is paying for it
• who will build and operate it
• when it is expected to start producing water

Water on this coast is not local. Red Sea towns run on desalinated seawater and on supply piped across the desert from the Nile valley, because there is no freshwater source of any size along the shore. That is the backdrop against which any new plant is measured.

Desalination is also energy-hungry, which is what makes the solar element of this project the part to watch: the power source is the main lever on what the water costs to produce once the plant is running.

For residents and for the hotels along the southern coast, added capacity matters most in the high-demand months, when occupancy is up and the network is under the most pressure. Because Al-Nahar gave no start date, it is not yet possible to say which season the plant will first serve — or how it will be connected to the existing network.