Dewa appoints companies to consult on Hassyan desalination plant

Consulting companies on the 120m gallons per day plant include Deloitte, WSP and Addleshaw Goddard

Dewa headquarters. The utility made its debut on the Dubai Financial Market in April. Photo: Dewa

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has appointed a group of companies to provide consultancy services on its seawater reverse osmosis plant in Hassyan.

Selected consultants on the desalination plant include Deloitte, WSP and Addleshaw Goddard, Dewa said on Sunday. The project will become operational in phases in 2025 and 2026, it said.

“We are building production plants based on reverse osmosis (RO) which requires less energy than that multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) based plants, making it a more sustainable choice for water desalination,” Saeed Al Tayer, Dewa's chief executive and managing director, said.

The authority is using clean solar energy to desalinate seawater using the latest RO technologies, he said.

The Hassyan plant, which will have a capacity of 120 million imperial gallons per day, is Dewa's first project to be built under the independent water producer (IWP) model.

Dubai's strategy is for 100 per cent of its desalinated water production in 2030 to come from a mix of clean energy that combines renewable energy sources and waste heat.

In addition, increasing the operational efficiency of separating the desalination process from electricity production will save about Dh13 billion until 2030, while reducing 44 million tonnes of carbon emissions, it said.

Advisory services provided by the companies on the Hassyan plant include tender document preparation, soliciting development and investment market interest as well as financial model development, Dewa said.

The consultancies will also undertake IWP developer tender submission management and evaluation, development of supplemental agreements, commercial negotiation, concluding a water purchase agreement and financial closure with the developer, the authority said.

The scope includes preparing a project marketing plan, participating in marketing activities and local and international roadshows, Dewa said.

The utility company made its debut on the Dubai Financial Market in April this year.

The listing of the Dubai utility was the largest in Europe and the Middle East since Saudi Aramco’s debut in 2019. Dewa raised Dh22.41bn ($6.1bn) from its initial public offering.

Dewa is the first of 10 state-owned companies that will eventually list on the DFM as Dubai seeks to increase the size of its financial market to Dh3 trillion.