In January 2016, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported that Morocco's first solar-driven desalination unit had begun operating near Marrakech. The Aquasolar pilot cost MAD 4.45 million (US$450,000), funded solely by the research institute Iresen. The modular unit treats 120 m³/day: 57 PV panels (10 kW) power reverse osmosis and 18 solar thermal collectors (14 kW) drive membrane distillation. Iresen estimated water costs at MAD 8 (about US$0.8) per cubic metre over ten years. Partners included two Moroccan universities, LSA Industrie and the Plataforma Solar de Almería.
The report gave an early example of hybrid designs that pair two desalination processes with two solar technologies, producing water from sunlight alone while keeping brine volumes low.