Utico and Siemens sign technology and supply agreement for Dubai's Hassyan plant

The seawater reverse osmosis plant is due to begin production in 2024

A desalination plant in Dubai. About 96% of domestic consumption of water comes from one of the 70 desalination plants in the UAE. Sarah Dea / The National

Utico, a Ras Al Khaimah-based private utility company, signed an engineering and supply services preliminary agreement with Germany’s technology giant Siemens for the Hassyan seawater reverse osmosis plant project in Dubai.

The Hassyan plant, which will have a capacity of 120 million imperial gallons per day, is being built under the independent water producer (IWP) model.

In March, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority signed a Dh1.5 billion ($408 million) 35-year water purchase agreement with Utico for the Hassyan plant.

Utico, which already operates independent water and power producer plants in Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah, was named as preferred bidder for the Hassyan plant in November last year. The project is due to begin production in 2024.

The pact with Siemens is part of Utico’s efforts to ensure the development of a top quality sustainable plant, and will ”supports Utico’s own expertise in desalination and utilities development”, Ali Darwish, chief executive of Utico in the UAE, said in a statement on Thursday.

The Hassyan plant is part of Dewa's push to increase its desalinated water capacity to 750 million imperial gallons per day, up from 470 million imperial gallons currently.

Reverse osmosis is a membrane-based method of desalination that uses less energy compared with the thermal process used to produce fresh water.

Dewa reached a record $0.277 per cubic metre of levelised water tariff for the project, which is the state utility's first developed under the IWP model. The authority also plans to lower water consumption by 30 per cent by 2030.

Mohammed Khalifa, Siemens’ Middle East chief executive of Digital Industries said the deal with Utico will allow it to further build on its relationship with Dewa.

“This will also be Siemens’ largest desalination plant project to date in Dubai in capacity,” he said.

Utico has interests across water supply, desalination, power generation and transmission as well as solar plants in the UAE and Oman. Sovereign entities from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Brunei are investors in the company, which is part of the Abu Dhabi-based RMB Group.