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KarmWater’s Marsa Alam desalination plant goes live: KarmSolar’s water solutions arm has launched the first solar-powered water desalination plant in Marsa Alam, KarmSolar CEO Ahmed Zahran told Enterprise. The plant produces some 300 cubic meters of water a day, covering 100% of consumption at Red Sea Diving Safari’s Marsa Shagra resort under a 25-year Water Purchase Agreement (WPA), Zahran said. He declined to disclose the cost of the project.
The plant is part-powered by renewables — and aims to go fully solar-powered by 2033: Some 30% of the energy used for the desalination plant comes from KarmSolar’s Marsa Alam Solar Grid, which was launched in 2022 and provides electricity to several resorts across Marsa Alam including Marsa Shagra. The company is continually adjusting the energy mix and aims to power the desalination plant entirely through the Marsa Alam Solar Grid within the next decade, Zahran told us.
The company says its water is cheaper and better quality than competitors: Water from the plant is sold to Red Sea Diving Safari at a c. 25% markdown from the market norm and has better salinity than “conventional sources” in the area, KarmWater said in a press release (pdf). “We’ve been focusing a lot on the quality of water produced and it’s very high,” Zahran told us. “We are working in areas that already had private water desalination projects. The reason we managed to penetrate… is because our model was different and our quality was much higher.”
More in the works: KarmWater is in discussions to launch several more desalination plants in the area, Zahran told us, without giving further details. The company also “plans to invest in infrastructure such as pipelines that will allow delivery of desalinated water directly to customers, eliminating the need for water trucks,” according to the release.
Stay tuned: We sat down recently with Zahran to learn more about what KarmSolar has in the works and get his take on growth in our renewables and desalination sectors. Stay tuned for the full interview in our Going Green weekly vertical on the green economy.
