Saudi developer Abdul Latif Jameel Energy (ALJ Energy) plans to use its renewable energy experience to develop carbon neutral desalination plants, as it pursues contracts in both sectors in markets including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
"We're looking at working between [our] water and the power teams to develop a carbon neutral desalination approach, to be able to desalinate with renewable energy," the company's chief executive officer Roberto de Diego in an interview with The National.
The firm is “looking internally” at integrating solar and wind power solutions into desalination plants, which are typically highly energy-intensive.
“[It will] depend on the geographic conditions of where the desalination plant will be,” said Mr de Diego Arozamena.
“The solar or wind plant doesn’t necessarily have to be in the same place; [much depends on] the regulations to provide electricity to the desalination project.” he said.
ALJ Energy is among a number of local and international utility providers and energy firms hoping to benefit from the increasing privatisation of Saudi Arabia’s water and electricity distribution networks.
The country’s environment minister Abdulrahman Al Fadhli on Sunday announced plans to build nine desalination plants on the country’s Red Sea coast with a total capacity of 240,000 cubic metres of water per day, to be completed within 18 months.
Mr de Diego Arozamena said the firm is targeting both greenfield and brownfield desalination opportunities in the kingdom, including largescale projects in the industrial cities of Jubail, Yanbu and Rabigh.
ALJ Energy has also prequalified to bid for the world’s largest desalination facility in Abu Dhabi, a 200 million Imperial gallon-a-day project announced earlier this month by the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (Adwea).
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Read more:
Veolia plans $200m in investments as it looks to expand Middle East footprint
Abu Dhabi unveils a Dh1.6bn underground reserve for desalinated water
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The Dh2 billion Taweela project will be developed as two desalination plants of 100 million gallons each and will be constructed alongside its namesake power station, located north of the city of Abu Dhabi.
ALJ Energy, which only opened its wind division last year, is eyeing opportunities in the Middle East’s nascent wind sector, especially within its home market.
Saudi Arabia last year tendered a 400MW project in Dumat Al Jandal, and recently announced another 800MW project to be offered for bidding later this year, as part of the kingdom’s plans to put 9.5GW of renewable power into its grid by 2023.
“We have about 1GW [of wind projects] in the pipeline,” said Mr de Diego Arozamena.
“We don’t have enough credentials yet to participate on the wind side, but we are willing to start participating in consortiums for our teams to start learning.”
The firm, through its fully-owned Spanish subsidiary Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, was awarded a contract last week for the construction of a 540GWh hybrid solar-wind project in Chile, which will power nearly a quarter of a million homes in the Latin American state.
In addition to new business, ALJ Energy’s future plans include managing and extracting value from plants it has developed worldwide.
“We’re looking at keeping the plants, the plan was to sell the plants once operational and now we’re reevaluating that,” said Mr de Diego Arozamena.
The developer announced last week it had reached financial close on a 342MW solar farm in the Mexican state of San Luis de Potosí.
“It should start construction in the next two-three weeks,” said Mr de Diego Arozamena.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
The%20Specs
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DUBAI%20BLING%3A%20EPISODE%201
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Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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FIGHT%20CARD
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SPECS
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Company%20profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH DETAILS
Chelsea 4
Jorginho (4 pen, 71 pen), Azpilicueta (63), James (74)
Ajax 4
Abraham (2 og), Promes (20). Kepa (35 og), van de Beek (55)
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
%3Cp%3ECory%20Sandhagen%20v%20Umar%20Nurmagomedov%0D%3Cbr%3ENick%20Diaz%20v%20Vicente%20Luque%0D%3Cbr%3EMichael%20Chiesa%20v%20Tony%20Ferguson%0D%3Cbr%3EDeiveson%20Figueiredo%20v%20Marlon%20Vera%0D%3Cbr%3EMackenzie%20Dern%20v%20Loopy%20Godinez%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ETickets%20for%20the%20August%203%20Fight%20Night%2C%20held%20in%20partnership%20with%20the%20Department%20of%20Culture%20and%20Tourism%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20went%20on%20sale%20earlier%20this%20month%2C%20through%20www.etihadarena.ae%20and%20www.ticketmaster.ae.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%20Profile
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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