SHUQAIQ 3 – DESALINATION PLANT

The Shuqaiq 3 desalination plant, located on the coast of the Red Sea, in Saudi Arabia, is one of the largest reverse osmosis desalination plants in the world. With a nominal production capacity of 450,000 cubic meters per day, equivalent to 180 Olympic-size swimming pools, the plant supplies both the population and the agricultural and industrial activities of the provinces of Asir and Jizan, which are home to nearly 4 million people.

More than 2,000 people participated in its construction, and after its completion, a major milestone has been reached in terms of industrial health and safety, with more nine million hours without any incidents or work-related casualties.

The Shuqaiq 3 plant has more than 7,000 reverse osmosis pressure tubes, which when placed end to end would measure almost 54 kilometers long, with more than 53,000 membranes working simultaneously to produce more than 18 million liters of pure water per hour. For the water intake, three pipes, 2 meters in diameter and 1.5 km long, buried in the seabed and can take in 1 billion liters of water per day for treatment and purification.

This is the region’s first large-scale plant that uses highly energy-efficient pure reverse osmosis technology, and it will supply up to 150 Hm³ (gigaliters) of high-quality water annually. The plant was inaugurated in a ceremony organized under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince / Mohammad Bin Nasser and the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Environmental, Water and Agriculture in January 2022.

Shuqaiq 3 has been developed under a 25-year BOO (Build-Own-Operate) contract model.