SWA moves to manufacture desalination energy-recovery devices domestically

The Saudi Water Authority (SWA) is bringing the production of a critical desalination component in-house, developing the world’s first energy recovery device (ERD) manufacturing facility outside the US, according to a press release. Saudi Arabia relies on desalination for most of its drinking water and has until now imported every ERD it uses.

SOUND SMART- ERDs capture and reuse the pressure energy in the brine that desalination plants would otherwise discard, feeding it back into the system to pressurize incoming seawater. In reverse-osmosis plants, that recycling can cut energy use by up to 60% in the most power-hungry part of the process.

The details: US-based energy tech firm Energy Recovery will build the plant, with production due to start in 1Q 2027 at an annual capacity of 2k units. That comfortably clears the Kingdom’s estimated demand of around 1.2k units a year, leaving about 40% of output for export across the GCC, Africa, and Asia.

The economics: The project targets a market worth more than SAR 547 mn — roughly SAR 247 mn domestically and SAR 300 mn across MENA. It is expected to add around SAR 137 mn to Saudi GDP by 2033 and reach over 80% local content across the value chain.

Why it matters: Desalination is one of the Kingdom’s most energy-intensive processes, and ERDs are the components that keep its cost manageable. Producing them locally trims fuel consumption and operating costs, shortens a supply chain that has run through the US, and shores up the water network underpinning Saudi Arabia’s expanding housing, tourism, and agricultural demand. That supply chain matters more with the strait disruptions still unresolved and the Kingdom’s water security is tied directly to desalination capacity.

REMEMBER- Saudi Arabia spent around SAR 100 bn over the past seven years to make its water system more efficient rather than just building more desalination plants. The Kingdom adopted seawater reverse osmosis as its main desalination technology to cut energy use, while investing in smart infrastructure and digital monitoring to reduce water losses and improve the performance of its water network.