Komodo solar desalination plant documented at 5 m³ daily output
A solar-powered desalination plant on Papagarang island in Komodo National Park is documented as producing around five cubic metres of drinking water per day since mid-2019.
Editor: Mursyid Sonsang
· Event date: · 4 min read
Labuan Bajo — — A solar-powered desalination plant in Komodo National Park is reported to produce up to five cubic metres of drinking water per day, or around 5,000 litres, according to a project profile for the Sustainable Water Supply Komodo initiative on the Water Action Hub platform. The profile states that the system has supplied drinking water to local residents since June 2019 and remains listed as ongoing, but does not provide recent operating data.
The Water Action Hub record describes the installation as the first OSMOSUN solar-powered desalination plant in Komodo National Park, implemented by Komodo Water, Akuo Indonesia and Mascara Renewable Water. It cites local communities and domestic users as beneficiaries and frames the project as a response to water scarcity and limited access to safe drinking water in this remote island setting.
Separate technical documentation from Nazava, published as a project reference for the island of Papagarang, specifies that the installation is an OSMOSUN BW 0.75 unit producing approximately five cubic metres of drinking water per day using 100% solar energy. The document characterises the system as “the first solar desalination installation without battery in the island of Papagarang” and notes that it improves access to drinking water at more affordable prices, with the installation designed and implemented by Akuo and Mascara and operated by the local community.
Documented project parameters
The Water Action Hub entry records the project start date as 1 June 2019, with the end date marked as “ongoing”. It reports “5 m3/d of fresh water produced” as progress to date and identifies project goals including improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene, better water quality, integrated water-resource management and increased climate resilience.
Atmosfair, a German climate-protection organisation that partners with Komodo Water, reports that on 22 July 2019 a solar-powered water desalination plant began operation on the small island of Papagarang within Komodo National Park. Its description states that a solar array of about 5.5 kWp powers an OSMOSUN BW system filtering brackish water into drinking water, with staff filling 20-litre containers and selling the water at low cost to finance operation and maintenance.
Atmosfair further notes that the plant can produce up to 5,000 litres of drinking water per day, matching the five-cubic-metre output reported in other sources, although some families continue to rely on free brackish water for much of their daily use. This figure corresponds to the daily production cited in the Nazava project reference for Papagarang.
Role and limitations
According to these sources, the Papagarang installation is presented as a pilot project intended to demonstrate the feasibility of solar desalination in isolated island communities and to improve water security for roughly 500 inhabitants. OSMOSUN’s corporate communications similarly describe the Komodo National Park plant as producing fresh water and ice for the local population since June 2019, and highlight it as the first OSMOSUN solar-powered desalination plant in the park.
However, none of the available documentation provides a detailed breakdown of current operating hours, annual production volumes or the proportion of local demand met by the plant. The sources do not quantify total water demand from residents, tourism businesses, visitors or park operations, nor do they identify specific hotels, tour operators or park facilities as customers.
Energy performance is only partly documented. The Nazava reference notes low energy consumption of 1.5 kWh per cubic metre for OSMOSUN technology and describes the Papagarang installation as powered entirely by solar energy, without batteries or fossil fuels. Atmosfair adds that a 5.5 kWp solar system supplies power to the plant. Beyond these figures, publicly accessible records do not provide operating logs, downtime statistics, maintenance costs or systematic water-quality testing results.
What the evidence supports
Taken together, the Water Action Hub profile, Nazava’s project reference, Atmosfair’s project description and OSMOSUN’s corporate materials independently corroborate that a solar-powered OSMOSUN desalination plant was installed on Papagarang island within Komodo National Park in mid-2019, with a reported capacity and production level of about five cubic metres of drinking water per day.
These sources support treating the five-cubic-metre figure as a documented project output and indicative capacity for the Papagarang plant. They do not, however, confirm whether the installation is currently operating at that level in 2026, how its water is distributed among different user groups, or whether it has significantly reduced bottled-water consumption or plastic waste in the wider tourism economy.
Sources
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