Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, August 31, 2026: Acwa, recognized as the largest private water desalination firm globally and a pioneer in the energy transition and large-scale green hydrogen initiatives, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Veolia, a worldwide leader in environmental services and water technologies, in Paris, France. This agreement unites both companies in their mission to enhance seawater desalination throughout the entire value chain, focusing on plant design, equipment selection, dosing and monitoring processes, and daily operations.
The partnership focuses on developing, designing, and managing seawater desalination facilities with an emphasis on energy efficiency. Engineers from both companies will collaborate on optimizing operational strategies, chemical dosing, and consumption rates to reduce costs and environmental impacts. Additionally, they will enhance water quality through advanced monitoring and treatment methods. Veolia will apply its expertise to improve plant efficiency across Acwa’s fleet, ensuring effective project delivery and addressing daily operational challenges.
Raad Al-Saady, Managing Director of Acwa, remarked: “Together with Veolia, we have established the most efficient desalination plants globally. Our experiences from these projects reveal that cost increments are seldom found in one easily identifiable location; rather, they are distributed across design, procurement, chemistry, and operations. This is why our agreement encompasses the entire chain instead of just the most easily measurable stage.”
Anne Le Guennec, Director of the Water Technologies Zone at Veolia, stated: “This agreement allows us to leverage our advanced water technologies to provide tangible and effective solutions for renewing and safeguarding water resources. In Saudi Arabia, our collective environmental security hinges on our ability to conserve every drop of water. Partnering with Acwa, we are accelerating over a decade of transformative work in desalination, continuously applying our cutting-edge technologies and expertise to support essential infrastructure, enhance competitiveness, and ensure the region’s strategic autonomy.”
Savings in energy consumption are measured in fractions of a kilowatt-hour, becoming substantial at scale. For example, Acwa’s four plants—Rabigh 3, Rabigh 4, Jazlah, and Shuaibah 3—each produce 600,000 cubic meters daily, where a reduction of one-tenth of a kilowatt-hour per cubic meter results in about 22 GWh of annual savings per site. This collaboration will extend to projects in Azerbaijan and Senegal, aiming for desalination capacities of 300,000 and 400,000 cubic meters daily. Saudi Arabia’s water strategy focuses on cheaper, less carbon-intensive solutions, aligning with Vision 2030, while the MoU with Veolia remains non-exclusive and collaborative.
Source: Acwa
