Farasan Water Desalination Plant

Farasan Desalination Plant is one of the stations affiliated with the Saudi Water Authority in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is located in Farasan Governorate in Jazan Province on the Red Sea coast. It provides the local population with their demand for desalinated water.

The water production system at the Farasan Saline Water Desalination Plant has gone through three stages, with the first stage "Farasan One" established in 1979, having a production capacity of five hundred m³ of desalinated water per day and generating 2.4 MW of electricity.

The expansion works at the Farasan Saline Water Desalination Plant continued, followed by the first expansion of the plant in 1990, increasing the plant's production to 1,750 m³ of desalinated water per day.

In 2006, the second phase of the plant's expansion project began, with a production capacity of nine thousand m³ of water per day. The second phase of the project includes two multi-effect desalination units with a total design capacity of 4,500 m³ of desalinated water per day for each unit, along with two diesel-operated boilers for steam production, each with a design capacity of twenty-four t per hour. It also comprises seawater treatment and drinking water treatment sections, a seawater pump unit, produced water pumps, five storage tanks for produced water, two fuel tanks, control and monitoring rooms, a laboratory, and a fire-fighting system.

In 2010, "Farasan Two" was inaugurated to cover Farasan Island, and the water transport systems were also put into operation in the same year. The production capacity in "Farasan Three" reached approximately 17,000 m³ of desalinated water per day, utilizing reverse osmosis technology starting in 2020.

The Saudi Water Authority undertook several maintenance and operation projects at the Farasan Saline Water Desalination Plant in 2017. These projects included installing and operating backup diesel generators, replacing PH analysis equipment with modern types, maintaining VFD panels and their associated electrical switchboards, testing and inspecting lifting equipment for various forklifts, overhead cranes, and load ropes, as well as conducting routine preventive maintenance for seawater systems.

The Saudi Water Authority also executed other projects at the Farasan Saline Water Desalination Plant in 2018. These projects included maintenance of chargers for the uninterrupted power supply 'UPS' system and battery replacement, maintenance and partial cleaning of the main seawater pipelines to increase desalinated water production, routine maintenance of seawater intake strainers and their accessories, as well as a project for cleaning and inspecting boilers, adjusting and calibrating fuel burners, and conducting performance and safety tests for the boilers. Furthermore, a comprehensive overhaul project was conducted for one of the main seawater pumps.

In 2019, the Farasan Saline Water Desalination Plant, along with the plants in al-Lith, Duba, Haqel, al-Wajh, Ummlujj, al-Aziziyah, and al-Qunfudhah, received their operational licenses from the National Center of Meteorology.