Massively adopted in the Gulf since the 1970s, followed by by Israel or Singapore after 2000, large-scale seawater desalination remains little developed on the African continent, with the notable exception of the Maghreb, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, South Africa.
Capital- and energy-intensive, this technology remains difficult to make profitable without a significant increase in the water rate charged to users – unless it is heavily subsidised. It remains largely out of the reach of developing countries, and the few large-scale projects that have been carried out on the continent, outside North Africa, have a mixed record.
However, the rapid growth of large coastal cities in sub-Saharan Africa has in recent years prompted governments to launch ambitious desalination projects, with the financial support of development aid organisations or as public-private partnerships (PPPs). After the commissioning of a plant in Accra in 2015 and Djibouti in 2021, Dakar, Lomé and Cape Town are in turn betting on desalination to guarantee their populations’ access to a vital resource, in a context of growing water stress that is jeopardising their conventional resources. Early-stage projects are also being studied in Mombasa, Luanda and Lagos, but they are faced with major financing difficulties. For their part, the North African “pioneers” continue to invest heavily (including, in Morocco, to meet the needs of the agricultural sector) to make up for recurring shortages that have led to episodes of social unrest.
Investment and operating costs, which are still high, are nevertheless falling steadily, and the use of renewable energies to power – at least partially – desalination plants is becoming feasible. These developments are gradually opening up new prospects on the continent. Several leading players, notably from the Gulf (ACWA Power, Metito, Wetico) or from Israel (IDE Technologies) are already positioning themselves in Africa, the new frontier of the desalination market.
Finally, the recent development of micro-power stations, containerised and powered by photovoltaic panels, makes it possible to produce drinking water on a very small scale in areas not connected to the electricity grid or to water distribution networks.
