Water from the ocean can be desalinated simply by letting it sit in the sun and evaporate, with the evaporate then being condensed into potable water. This process is used to a limited extent in providing agricultural irrigation in a few spots of the world, but doesn’t work on the large scale necessary for drinking water. However, a variety of technologies have been harnessed to increase the quantity of water produced. Those technologies require a lot of energy, usually electricity, and the electricity itself has to come from somewhere. In Saudi Arabia, the generation of electricity comes from either oil or natural gas.

Both of those commodities, though, are valuable as either exportable goods or in alternative uses. Solar power is still mostly unexploited and the Kingdom receives massive amounts of sunlight, from 4-8 Kilowatt Hours per square meter of surface, depending on the season. Efforts are now being made to capture that sunlight to drive desalination plants, as the Saudi Gazette article reports. Saudi Arabia is poised to become the world leader in the production of solar energy, reaching 20 Gigawatts over the coming years.

KSA to go solar to raise water desalination plant output
Joe Avancena | Saudi Gazette

DHAHRAN – Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Saud, Vice President for the Research Institutes Office at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), will deliver a policy address on the application of solar energy in developing water desalination as a strategic choice for the Kingdom at the First Saudi Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition to be convened on February 19, at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

… The Al-Khafji solar-powered desalination plant, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will produce 30,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to meet the needs of some 100,000 people.

KACST will also build another desalination plant using solar energy with a production capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per day at a site now being determined. More water desalination plants using solar energy in various locations in the Kingdom will be constructed within the next 10 years, according to the KACST water desalination development plan using solar energy.
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Meanwhile, Arab News reports on efforts to promote water conservation.