Desalination plants
Desalination facilities, their capacity and technology.
One of the largest desalination facilities in the world, combining thermal and reverse osmosis capacity with power generation to supply Riyadh across hundreds of kilometres of pipeline.
- Operator
- Saudi Water Authority
- Capacity
- over 1 million m³/day
- Technology
- Multi-stage flash and reverse osmosis
- Supplies
- Riyadh and the Eastern Province
- Configuration
- Co-located with power generation
A benchmark for seawater reverse osmosis cost and efficiency, using large-diameter pressure vessels and energy recovery to achieve some of the lowest reported desalinated water costs anywhere.
- Operator
- IDE Technologies
- Capacity
- approximately 624,000 m³/day
- Technology
- Seawater reverse osmosis
- Commissioned
- 2013
- Notable for
- Very low specific energy consumption and unit cost
A very large combined power and water complex supplying Dubai, historically dominated by thermal desalination and progressively adding reverse osmosis capacity.
- Operator
- DEWA
- Capacity
- over 2 million m³/day across the complex
- Technology
- Multi-stage flash, increasingly supplemented by RO
- Configuration
- Integrated power and water
The largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere, supplying San Diego County — and a standing case study in the cost and permitting difficulty of desalination in a high-regulation environment.
- Operator
- Poseidon Water
- Capacity
- approximately 190,000 m³/day
- Technology
- Seawater reverse osmosis
- Commissioned
- 2015
- Share of San Diego County supply
- around 10%