King Mohammed VI of Morocco Confirmed that the project is already 65% complete.

The plant is being built under a public-private partnership (PPP) by the Spanish company Abengoa. It is located on a 20-hectare plot of land along the coast, in the locality of Douira, 40 km from the city of Agadir.

The project entails an offshore intake connected to two pipes that will convey the water to the desalination plant. It will also be accompanied by reservoirs for storing drinking water, at least five pumping stations, 22km of pipelines and about 490km of distribution network. The desalination plant will run on electricity from a wind farm and have a daily capacity of 275,000 m³, expandable to 450,000m³ per day.

At least 150,000m³ of water will thus be transported daily to Greater Agadir, including the city and the territory. In order to reduce the plant’s electricity consumption, a pressure exchanger system will be installed. This will allow energy to be recovered and has a very positive impact on the cost of energy, which is reduced by about 43% per cubic metre produced. Upon completion, part of the treated water will be used to supply an irrigation system in the Chtouka plain.

The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (Onee) is building a transmission line that will connect the Agadir desalination plant to the Tiznit substation. The overall project cost is US $460m Abengoa is financing the project with its local partner InfraMaroc. The plant is expected to be operational in March 2021.