SUEZ, TAQA and Siemens join forces for the future of desalination in emerging countries

SUEZ, a French global leader in circular solutions for water management, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), one of the largest listed integrated utility companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Siemens, a leading German technology company, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to participate in the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative. This global competition aims to develop a breakthrough solution to ensure sustainable and affordable access to water for communities in emerging countries.

The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative is a 5-year global competition set to drive a step change in desalination technologies - reimagining systems, methods, and materials. It will facilitate the widespread use of desalination in a way that promotes greater socio-economic equity and environmental sustainability. Candidates will be required to build several pilot desalination units and an industrial demonstration unit.

Under this MoU, TAQA’s power and water generation business is combining with Suez and Siemens to form an international team with plans to develop and prove an innovative and cost-effective desalination technology. The project aims to develop a cutting-edge step forward for a sustainable solution that optimises energy consumption while ensuring affordability, allowing more countries to benefit from desalination solutions.

This MoU demonstrates the commitment of these three companies to foster strong international partnerships and collaboration. By combining their respective high-level expertise, the three partners aim to provide concrete answers to water-related challenges in the regions most affected by water scarcity, while contributing to their sustainable development.

SUEZ will provide its R&D expertise. The Group draws on 50 years of experience in seawater desalination, with more than 260 plants built around the world, and has 30 references in the Middle East. In Australia, the Victoria State desalination plant, built and operated by SUEZ, is the largest in the southern hemisphere. In Jordan, SUEZ is part of the Consortium, led by Meridiam, selected as preferred bidder to design, build and operate on a long-term basis one of the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plants.

Sabrina Soussan, Chairman and CEO of SUEZ said: "We are delighted to participate in this competition, an important initiative that promotes anticipation and international cooperation to contribute to water security and resilience in emerging countries. SUEZ’s participation underlines our commitment to developing more affordable and sustainable water supply technologies. I would like to thank our partners, TAQA Group and Siemens for their trust and wish all the teams involved every success!"

As one of the major players in the desalination space and the largest producer of desalinated water in the UAE, with a capacity of more than 1,250 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD), TAQA’s power and water generation business is one of the most experienced potable water providers operating in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions. The company also owns a stake in Taweelah Reverse Osmosis Independent Water Plant, one of the world’s largest reverse osmosis plants in operation with a capacity of 200 MIGD.

Farid Al Awlaqi, Chief Executive Officer, Generation at TAQA, said: “We must address the global water scarcity crisis by collaborating with companies and organisations and fast-tracking innovative solutions to address these issues faced by too many people and communities across the globe. As the largest producer of desalinated water in the UAE, TAQA is committed to producing and delivering potable water that is as energy-efficient as possible by adopting innovative desalination technologies combined with cleaner energy sources. We are delighted to join forces with Suez and Siemens, international leaders in the water and energy sectors, to compete for this prize.