Veolia wins $320 million water technology contract for world’s most energy-efficient desalination plant

French company and world water technology leader Veolia will engineer and supply key technology for the Hassyan seawater desalination plant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), through its subsidiary SIDEM, the company announced on Tuesday.

The plant is commissioned by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and ACWA Power and will cost US $320 million. It will be the second largest desalination plant based on reverse osmosis (RO) technology in the world, and the largest desalination plant powered by solar energy.

This significant project underlines Veolia's commitment, reaffirmed in its new GreenUp strategic plan, to provide sustainable, low-carbon and energy-efficient solutions, while guaranteeing the preservation of water resources in a context of adaptation to climate change.

Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia, said, “All over the world, people are looking for solutions to climate change. The watchword is adaptation,”

She added that this latest achievement confirms the company’s leading position in water technologies.

“Our efforts have made the impossible possible, reducing the energy consumption of large-scale desalination to 2,9 kWh/m3,” Brachlianoff noted.

The project in numbers

The Hassyan desalination project, which is situated about 55 kilometers southwest of Dubai Creek, will be able to supply two million people with safe and dependable drinking water with a capacity of 818,000 cubic meters per day (m3/d), or 180 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD).

The facility is scheduled to begin operations in 2026 and scale up gradually to reach full capacity in 2027.

The project is a component of a larger plan to sustainably boost water desalination capacity in order to meet Dubai's growing residential and commercial water demand.

In addition, this plant will be the biggest solar-powered desalination plant globally, with a remarkable energy efficiency record and a remarkably low energy consumption rate of 2,9 kWh/m3.