Saudi and Egypt officials discuss new water desalination solutions

ACWA Power, a Saudi-listed company and the world’s largest private water desalination company, the first mover into green hydrogen, and a leader in energy transition, marked a momentous meeting between the Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly and ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli in Egypt, underscoring ACWA Power’s efforts to bring innovative and sustainable desalination solutions to the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ceremony signifying the official allocation of land for a 10GW wind project in Egypt’s Western Sohag region and saw the Prime Minister emphasise ACWA Power’s credibility and capabilities in delivering giga-scale projects of strategic importance.

Further validating his confidence in ACWA Power, Prime Minister Madbouly expressed his vision to extend the cooperation with the organisation in the field of water desalination, to help counter Egypt’s challenges with water shortages. ACWA Power is a trusted and credible company in water desalination projects.

Speaking on the occasion, Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA said: “We are honoured by the trust placed in us by Dr Mostafa Madbouly, and are grateful to be able to contribute to the government’s vision to secure the country’s long-term water supplies.”

“We look forward to working closely with the Egyptian authorities over the coming years, who clearly share our commitment for the sustainable and responsible development of its communities and ensuring a brighter future for all,” Marco Arcelli added.

ACWA Power operates 16 desalination plants in four countries, ten of which are in Saudi Arabia.

In 2022 alone, the company added 2.4 million m3/day of water desalination capacity via four desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE—the highest in its history. Today ACWA Power manages 6.8 million m3 of desalinated water per day.

 ACWA Power, a Saudi listed company, is the world’s largest private company in water desalination with lowest tariff, leader in innovation and the first mover into green hydrogen.

Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ACWA Power employs over 4,000 people and is currently present in 12 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia.

ACWA Power’s portfolio comprises 77 projects in operation, advanced development, or construction with an investment value of SAR 293 billion ($78.2 billion), and the capacity to generate 50.4 GW of power and manage 6.8 million m3/day of desalinated water per day, delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long term, off-taker contracts under utility services outsourcing and Public-Private-Partnership models.

Meanwhile ACWA Power has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to develop a 10 GW wind power project in the North African country.

The MoU, signed by Mohamed El Khayat, Chairman of the NREA, and Hassan Amin, Country Director for Egypt at ACWA Power, will allocate approximately 3,000km2 of land near the city of Sohag to the Saudi Arabian company for the project’s development.

The signing ceremony took place at Egypt’s Council of Minister headquarters in the city of El Alamein and in the presence of Egypt’s Prime Minister, Moustafa Madbouly; Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker; Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Alexandria, Maya bin Muhammad Al-Huwaishan; Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, Sabah Mashaly and ACWA Power CEO, Marco Arcelli.

“Egypt has adopted an ambitious programme to advance the electricity sector in various fields, which includes maximizing the utilization of new and renewable energy resources, encouraging investment in these fields to enable energy independence from fossil fuels, continuing to reduce carbon emissions, and increasing renewable energy capacity in the energy mix up to 41% by 2035,” Minister Shaker stated.

Poised to play a significant role in developing the renewable energy capabilities of the Middle East and North African regions, the 10 GW wind power plant will boast an output of approximately 50,000 GWh of clean energy per year, providing electricity to roughly 11 million households while mitigating up to 25.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

The project is expected to result in an estimated $6.5 billion in annual savings on natural gas costs for Egypt while leading to the creation of up to 120,000 job opportunities. The construction phase of the project is expected to lead to the creation of 45,000 direct jobs, while creating an additional 75,000 indirect jobs.

Furthermore, the operation and maintenance phase of the solar plant is anticipated to generate around 2,500 jobs.