Acwa Power may build desalination plants in Egypt

CAIRO - 27 September 2019: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met on Friday with Chairman of Acwa Power Mohamed Abdullah Abou Neyan operating in the sectors of desalination and renewable energy to examine possibilities of establishing new desalination plants in Egypt.

The prime minister pointed out in the meeting, attended by Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, that Egypt seeks to count on desalination to supply drinking water to coastal areas.

Madbouly stated that the government has recently introduced a number of desalination plants that produce more than three million cubic meters daily, and that there is a need for plants having similar total capacity.

Saline Turning Clear

The annual water deficit in Egypt is 21 billion cubic meters. The gap is bridged through imports in the form of food, water recycling, and underground water. There is a need for further sustainable solutions to secure the water needs of agriculture, land reclamation, and citizens in border governorates.

The prime minister told Abou Neyan that Acwa Power has to submit an offer to accomplish and operate the prospective plants. The plan is that the state will purchase the desalinated water from the company.

The chairman of the Saudi company highlighted that his firm currently builds the world’s largest desalination plant in Abu Dhabi with a capacity of 950,000 cubic meters per day in addition to a power station. He added that Acwa Power is the largest producer of water and electricity in Oman, and the producer of 40 percent of desalinated water in Saudi Arabia.

Abou Neyan underlined that the production cost of a cubic meter of desalinated water has declined at present, and that his company is ready to build advanced desalination plants that meet the growing needs of the Egyptian states confirming that the offer will be submitted next week.

Acwa Power already has investments in Egypt embodied in solar stations with a capacity of 160 MW and initial cost worth $190 million in Aswan’s Benban Solar Park. That is in addition to another solar project in Aswan’s Kom Embo having a capacity of 200 MW as well as a combined-cycle power plant worth $1 billion.