Abu Dhabi conference to discuss opportunities in Mena region's desalination industry

Third Mena Desalination Projects Forum aims to forge partnerships to ensure sustainable business opportunities and solutions for water security

The first phase of a new water desalination plant in Umm Al Quwain. Photo: Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure

Government and industry leaders in the Middle East and North Africa will gather in Abu Dhabi in March to address the demand gap for clean or desalinated water and forge partnerships to ensure sustainable solutions for water security.

The third Mena Desalination Projects Forum will discuss opportunities for investment and how to make the most out of the increasing number of desalination developments to keep pace with growing demand. More than 400 stakeholders from around the world are expected to attend the region's largest government-endorsed conference for the industry.

“The conference will be able to focus on the water contribution towards net zero by 2050 and how the water sector not only can accomplish but even surpass the target,” Corrado Sommariva, chief executive of Sustainable Water and Power Consultants, said.

“Technology has generally been developing at an unprecedent pace in the past decade. This conference will indicate how the industry benefited from this development and what are the key innovations in desalination which is key to achieve a sustainable water supply.”

The annual costs being witnessed in the demand gap for clean water in the Middle East and North Africa region could go as high as $400bn or as much as a four-fold increase on the current $104bn per year, according to a World Bank report.

The global desalination market is projected to grow from $17.7bn in 2020 to $32.1bn by 2027, data from Renub Research shows. Around 48 per cent of the world’s water desalination projects are taking place in the Mena region, which would push investments there to $4.3bn by 2022.

The demand for clean water in Mena will grow due to increasing populations, expected economic growth and the likely impacts of climate change, the World Bank added.

“Our analysis shows that the water demand gap will quintuple by 2050, from today’s 42 cubic kilometres per annum to approximately 200 cubic kilometres per annum,” the Washington-based financial institution said.

In September, the UAE announced that it will develop three new water desalination projects to help boost sustainability and achieve water security goals. The projects, in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Umm Al Quwain, will have a combined capacity of 1.9 billion litres of water daily.

Last month, the UAE, Jordan and Israel signed an agreement to develop solar energy plants in Jordan, with export to Israel, and desalination facility in Israel that will supply Jordan with 200 million cubic metres of water.

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Water Partnership Company announced that commercial operations on the Jubail 3A independent water producer project will start in the last quarter of 2022.

Israel, to address its water demand, is turning to the Mediterranean, where three-quarters of household consumption is now sourced.

With a growing population increasing the demand for water, work is under way to construct a “Sorek 2" plant, near the existing Sorek desalination plant, about 15 kilometres south of Tel Aviv.

This will help will meet greater domestic needs and some of those abroad, said officials.

Sustainability will be high on the conference's agenda. Mena nations are projected to add 20 gigawatts of solar capacity and 5 gigawatts to 6 gigawatts of wind energy by 2025, providing an opportunity to address water security challenges.

“The decoupling of power and water production across the region has resulted in a growing trend to adopt captive solar photovoltaic plants, which is expected to drive water production costs down further,” Mr Sommariva said.

This shows that the region is ready to capitalise on the strength of its existing desalination industry as well as its abundant potential for producing renewable energy. As the monetary and energy-related costs of producing desalinated water continue to fall, capacity will steadily rise across the region.

Technological innovation has also allowed the cost of producing desalinated water to fall below $0.50 per cubic metre, compared to the 1960s when it cost over $10.

Electrical energy consumption needed to produce desalinated water has also dropped from highs of 7-8 kilowatt-hours per cubic metre to current averages of 2.5-3 kWh, making desalination sustainable from an energy perspective, especially when powered via renewables.

The third Mena Desalination Projects Forum is being held at the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers on March 15 and March 16, 2022.