MoU signed by Saudi’s Acwa Power to develop Egypt’s sustainable water desalination sector
- March 12, 2020
- Posted by: Lyn Wilson
- Category: Engineering, Investment and Finance, Tenders and Contracts, Water Issues, Middle East
In February 2020 ACWA Power signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Housing, Utilities & Urban Communities and Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy represented by Egyptian Electricity Holding Company. The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers in Cairo.
Among those who signed the MoU were; Eng. Gaber Desoki Mostafa Ibrahim, Chairman of Egyptian Electricity Holding; Eng. Hassan Amin, Country Director of ACWA Power – Egypt; and Mr. Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer at ACWA Power.
The project being undertaken is to conduct preliminary and feasibility studies for a series of water desalination projects in Egypt. The studies are to investigate the possibilities of powering desalination plants through solar and wind power or a combination of both renewable energy sources.
ACWA Power, headquartered in Riyadh Saudi Arabia is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants. The company is also the largest water and electricity producer in the Sultanate of Oman and generates 40% of desalinated water in Saudi Arabia.
CEO of ACWA Power, Paddy Padmanathan said:
“ACWA Power is delighted to utilize its well demonstrated capability in reliably and responsibly delivering renewable energy and desalinated water at the lowest possible cost to support the ambition of the Government of Egypt to leverage the considerable renewable energy sources available to also decarbonize and reduce the cost of much needed desalinated water.”
The Egyptian government chose ACWA for this venture due to the company’s global reputation for developing water desalination projects and renewable energy power plants. Currently ACWA power in Egypt is ahead with several renewable energy projects including the following:
- Benban PV IPP in Aswan, production capacity of 120 MW ,total investment of USD190 million
- Kom Ombo PV ,production capacity of 200 MW
- Combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Luxor, production capacity 2250 MW ,cost over USD2 billion.
Mr. Padmanathan also said:
“The Memorandum of Understanding communicates ACWA Power’s role in conducting a preliminary study as well as a feasibility study……… Upon completion, the two studies will be submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Utilities, Urban Communities and the Egyptian Electricity Holding to determine next steps on the projects based on the final results.”