Saudi-listed Acwa, a  private water desalination company and a player in the energy transition, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Veolia to optimise seawater desalination across the full value chain.

Signed in Paris, the agreement will bring together the companies’ engineering and technical expertise across the development, design and operation of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, with energy efficiency identified as a key priority.

Under the collaboration, engineers will work to refine plant designs, equipment selection and operating strategies to reduce energy consumption.

The companies will also focus on chemical optimisation, including improved dosing and consumption, to lower operating costs and reduce environmental impacts.

A third area of cooperation will target water quality through advanced monitoring, enhanced treatment methods and real-time assurance systems during plant operations.

Veolia will also apply its design capabilities, technical expertise and operational best practices across Acwa’s existing fleet to improve efficiency and operational performance.

The partnership also covers project delivery, building on existing cooperation between the companies. The two sides will pursue closer coordination and faster resolution of operational issues while supporting timely completion of current and future projects.

The potential energy savings could be significant at scale.

Four Acwa plants — Rabigh 3, Rabigh 4, Jazlah and Shuaibah 3 — each produce 600,000 cubic metres of water per day.

Saving 0.1 kilowatt-hour per cubic metre at one such facility would reduce annual electricity consumption by about 22 GWh.

The collaboration could also extend beyond the Gulf, including Acwa’s desalination projects in Azerbaijan and Senegal, where planned capacities stand at 300,000 and 400,000 cubic metres per day, respectively.

The partnership comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to make water supplies more efficient and less carbon-intensive, with desalination playing a central role in meeting rising municipal demand.

Acwa currently operates desalination capacity of 4.1 million cubic metres per day in the Kingdom.

The non-exclusive MoU does not commit the companies to additional capacity.

Instead, it establishes a technical work programme covering ongoing and future SWRO developments, with designated technical leads and regular reviews.

Raad Al-Saady, Managing Director of Acwa, said: “Between Acwa and Veolia, we have built the most efficient desalination plants in the world, and the lesson those projects taught is that the last increments of cost are rarely sitting in one easily identifiable place and are and are rather spread across design, procurement, chemistry and operation. This is why we have written this agreement to cover the whole chain instead of the single stage that happens to be easiest to measure.”

Anne Le Guennec, Director of the Water Technologies Zone, Veolia, said: "Through this agreement, thanks to our advanced water technologies, we are offering concrete and effective solutions to renew and preserve water resources. In Saudi Arabia, environmental security, which we build every day with our partners, depends on our collective ability to preserve every drop of water. Here, alongside Acwa, we are accelerating the excellent work carried out for more than 10 years to revolutionise the desalination model, and we continue to put our cutting-edge technologies and expertise at the service of essential infrastructure, competitiveness, and the strategic autonomy of the region."  -TradeArabia News Service