Marine Utilities
Algarve starts work on a €107.9 million desalination system
Construction release came in April and the first brick followed on 8 July. The awarded scope includes two intake towers about 2 km offshore, twin intake conduits, a 2.13 km brine outfall, the coastal pumping station and a plant sized initially for 500 litres per second.
What changed
Águas do Algarve describes the 8 July first-brick event as the symbolic start of the plant works. Its April release records the 22 April construction consignment after a conditional DCAPE, and the 2024 contract record fixes the €107.923 million value, delivery consortium, 1,115-day design-build period, three-year operating period, two offshore intake towers, intake pipelines and 2.13 km brine outfall. The sources establish a live construction contract, not offshore mobilisation, installed marine works, first water or accepted environmental performance.
Why it matters
The plant cannot reach first water on land works alone. Large-diameter pipe handling, seabed preparation, tower installation, the discharge diffuser and marine monitoring all sit on the route to provisional acceptance. The contract then moves into a separate three-year operating period.
Decision read
What remains open
The owner has crossed three real gates: contract signature, environmental construction release and an on-site start. The July event was also explicitly symbolic, so it should not be used as evidence that the intake or outfall is in the water. Offshore progress begins when marine plant, an approved installation sequence and installed components appear together in survey and monitoring records.
Next watchpoints
- Offshore construction programme and marine subcontracting structure
- Seabed survey, sediment characterization and trenching method
- Intake-tower fabrication, tow-out, lowering and connection
- Large-diameter intake and brine-pipeline installation
- Diffuser completion and salinity-plume monitoring
- Integrated hydraulic tests and provisional acceptance
- First sustained 500 l/s output and start of the operating period
Knowledge context
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Sources used 5
- Algarve water resilience visit and symbolic start of the desalination plant Águas do Algarve, 9 July 2026
- Construction release after environmental conformity review Águas do Algarve, 23 April 2026
- Cornerstone laid for Algarve desalination plant Government of Portugal, 9 July 2026
- Mixed design, construction and operation contract for Algarve desalination Águas do Algarve, 4 November 2024
- APA conditional environmental impact decision for Algarve desalination Portuguese Environment Agency, 4 April 2024
Corrections and methodology
Facts are dated to the source record above. IMWO updates the brief when procurement, award, delivery, or scope evidence materially changes.
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