Renewable-Powered Desalination: Morocco’s Innovative Solution to Water Scarcity

Thursday 05 September 2024 - 08:00

As global water stress intensifies, Morocco is positioning itself at the forefront of a potential solution. Nestled on the Atlantic coast, the fishing town of Agadir is home to a cutting-edge desalination plant powered by renewable energy, offering a glimpse of how the world might tackle its growing water challenges.

Water shortages are becoming increasingly common, driven by factors such as climate change, rapid population growth, and the rise of water-intensive industries like agriculture and data centers. The demand for reliable, sustainable water sources is more urgent than ever, and Morocco’s innovative approach could provide a blueprint for others facing similar problems.

The Agadir desalination plant, located three hours southwest of Marrakech, utilizes wind and solar energy to convert seawater into potable water. While desalination technology has been in use for decades, the process has traditionally been energy-intensive and costly. However, as renewable energy prices plummet, the economics of desalination are shifting, making it a more viable solution to water scarcity.

Peter Fiske, executive director of the National Alliance for Water Innovation, explains the core challenge: “Desalination is inherently energy-intensive because of the high salt content in seawater. The chemical energy required to separate the salt from the water is significant.” Yet, as renewable energy becomes more affordable, the barriers to large-scale desalination are diminishing. “Desalination and renewable power is a marriage made in heaven because both partners offer what the other one needs,” Fiske adds.

Morocco is rapidly increasing its reliance on renewable energy, aiming for half of its electricity to come from wind and solar by 2030. Currently, about 20% of the country's power is generated from these sources, a substantial leap from almost zero a decade ago. This growing supply of renewable energy is driving down the cost of desalinated water. In fact, the cost has dropped by 60% over the past decade, falling to just 37 cents per cubic meter.

The Agadir plant, operated by the Spanish firm Coxabengoa, produces 275,000 cubic meters of water daily, with 150,000 cubic meters earmarked for drinking water. This is enough to meet the basic daily needs of one million people, with the remaining water used for irrigation. The success of this project is inspiring further developments, including a much larger plant under construction in Casablanca, which will have a capacity of 800,000 cubic meters.

Desalination could be the key to addressing water shortages not only in Morocco but also in other regions experiencing regular water stress, such as California, the Middle East, and southern Europe. These areas share long coastlines and abundant sunshine, making them ideal candidates for renewable-powered desalination.

Tomás de Oliveira Bredariol, an energy and environmental policy analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), notes, “We are seeing more water use by different actors, agriculture, energy, population growth—and that compounds with climate change, which brings more floods and droughts. The water problem is not going away and is probably going to get worse.”

Desalination offers an advantage over other water sources, such as surface water and groundwater, which are susceptible to droughts. “Unlike other water assets that are influenced by climate change, desalination is unaffected,” says Fiske.

Coxabengoa estimates that $60 billion will need to be invested in the desalination sector over the next five years to keep up with growing demand. The company's CEO, Nacho Moreno, emphasizes the importance of finding sustainable solutions: “We need more and more water, but we will need to provide it in a sustainable way. That means combining cheap, green electricity with efficient desalination technology.”

With the right investments and continued advances in renewable energy, Morocco’s model could serve as a crucial element in the global fight against water scarcity.