First DEWA Project Using Independent Water Producer (IWP) Model

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has signed a 35-year Water Purchase and Shareholding Agreement with United Arab Emirates company Utico, for the Hassyan Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Plant.

The $410 Million USD desalination project is located in the south of Dubai and is expected to be completed by March 2024. Upon completion, the plant is expected to have a total capacity of 120 Million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD).

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and CEO of DEWA, said: “We work to increase the production capacity of desalinated water to meet the growing demand, with the aim of reaching 750 MIGD of desalinated water, compared to the current 470 MIGD.”

The project will support DEWA’s sustainability goals of sourcing three quarters of the country’s total power capacity from clean energy by 2050 and producing 100 Percent of its desalinated water from clean energy by 2030, by moving away from Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) plants towards Sea Water Reverse Osmosis – which is significantly more energy efficient.

It is DEWA’s first project to be built using the Independent Water Producer (IWP) model and according to Al Tayer, it has achieved the world’s lowest recorded levelised water tariff of 0.277 USD per cubic meters.