Wind energy integration in desalination: A public-private partnership approach to addressing water scarcity in Dakhla, Morocco

Abstract

By aligning Morocco’s “new development model for the southern provinces” NMDPS and “National Program for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation 2020-2027” PNAEPI with “Sustainable Development Goals” SDGs 6, 7, and 13, the Dakhla project demonstrates how renewable-powered desalination can simultaneously address water security (37 Mm³/year output), mitigate the raising energy demand with the 60 MW wind farm, promote socio-economic equity (25,000 permanent jobs), and decarbonization (5.6 M tons/year CO₂ avoided). This study introduces three methodological advances: (1) the first application of RMSE-optimized hub-height selection (120 m) in a Saharan coastal context, (2) integration two years wind measurement campaign into a multi-year empirical data ERA5 with long-term reanalysis to mitigate wind variability risks, and (3) a hybrid “Public Private Partnerships” PPP model enabling surplus energy commercialization, a first for Morocco’s renewable sector. This investigation rigorously quantifies the wind energy resource for Morocco's large-scale wind-driven desalination initiative in Dakhla, an innovative nexus of renewable energy and water security for arid environments. Employing multi-altitude anemometric data (40–100 m) and five Weibull methods, the analysis reveals significantly reduced predictive error at 100 m, with an 87.5% lower Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) compared to 40 m (0.00468 vs. 0.03757). The projected wind farm achieves a robust 69.02% capacity factor (5.23 GWh/MW/year net yield) and 31.38 GWh/year net energy after 13.5% losses, exceeding arid climate benchmarks. Granular loss analysis attributes 9.3% to technical factors and 2.7% to wake effects. These empirical findings are critical for techno-economic assessments of wind energy integration costs and offer a scalable paradigm for climate-resilient infrastructure in water-scarce regions.