

I don’t know, so I can only guess.
The desalination plant could have been there already, because for whatever reason it was more practical (or even required) than taking the water from the river.
Or maybe the desalination plant requires very little power, maybe less than what the osmotic plant produces.
Or the whole thing is indeed energy negative, but not as energy negative as having just the desalination plant. So at least they get to use the brine from the desalination to recoup some of the energy. Because the osmotic plant is power positive.
Do we work for the same company? Exactly same story here. Also just botched the Oracle to Aurora migration.