Abengoa, winner of the Global Water Award for desalination plant of the year by Taweelah

May 10, 2023

• "Taweelah represents a historic step towards the decarbonisation of the emirate's thermal desalination system."
• The awards ceremony, promoted by Global Water Intelligence (GWI), took place in Berlin (Germany).
• Taweelah, the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world (909,218 m3/day) located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and the first to combine the production of drinking water with the generation of clean energy, is already in commercial operation.

May 10, 2023 - Abengoa, the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, energy and water sectors, has received the Global Water Intelligence (GWI) desalination plant of the year award for the Taweelah plant. The awards ceremony took place on May 9 at the Estrel Congress Center in Berlin (Germany), as part of the Global Water Summit, a high-level event where the companies that lead the international panorama of the water sector have met.

The Global Water Award for desalination plant of the year was presented during the gala dinner held in Berlin.  Antonio Lara, Abengoa's Director of Water Operations, stated that "the Taweelah plant is the largest desalination plant in the world in commercial operation which produces 909,000 m3 daily, the award received has been a fair recognition of Abengoa's excellent team of professionals, and especially in the Taweelah project. "

The organization of the Global Water Awards has highlighted the Taweelah desalination plant that "represents a historic step towards the decarbonization of the emirate's thermal desalination system.  This desalination plant includes a solar photovoltaic plant to supply more than 30 % of its energy which will reduce Abu Dhabi's carbon footprint by 2.5 million tons of CO2 per year, marking the beginning of a new era of sustainable desalination in the emirate."  

At the same time, Taweelah's project is a benchmark from a financial point of view. As announced by GWI, "by taking advantage of solar power generation, it was possible to overcome the challenge of energy price competitiveness in Abu Dhabi, managing to supply water below USD 0.50/m³. Taweelah is also the first desalination project to be qualified as a "sustainable loan".

In the desalination plant of the year category, Abengoa competed with the Bahri desalination barge (Saudi Arabia), Qingdao Baifa Phase 2 (China) and Shuqaiq 3 (Saudi Arabia) projects.

Global Water Awards and Global Water Summit are initiatives promoted by the prestigious water sector publication, GWI.  This World Water Summit is the flagship water sector event of the year, recognized for its industry-leading agenda and the high concentration of water sector executives attending each year. It's an unparalleled networking and strategy development opportunity for executive-level attendees, where Global Water Summit is the largest annual event in the international water industry.

In this edition of Berlin, more than 800 delegates and more than 60 countries are meeting, under the slogan "Creating a Climate for Growth"

Taweelah, the largest desalination plant in the world

Taweelah is the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world with a capacity of 909,218 m³/day and the first to combine the production of drinking water with the generation of clean energy. Located in the Taweelah power and water generation complex, 45 km north of Abu Dhabi, the plant in its entirety is already operating at full capacity and successfully producing drinking water since the beginning of 2023.

The Taweelah desalination plant has been designed to guarantee the supply of the city of Abu Dhabi (four and a half million people, approximately) for a whole year and will be the first large-scale plant in the emirate to combine the production of drinking water with the generation of clean energy, thanks to the installation of a photovoltaic solar field of more than 70 MWp of power. In this way, once in commercial operation, it will be possible to reduce, in a sustainable way, the energy demand of the desalination plant. In addition, this project, located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is part of the plan developed by the government of the United Arab Emirates to encourage private participation in the country's infrastructure development.

Abengoa has been the technologist at the Taweelah plant and has developed the design, engineering, supply of the main equipment, supervision of assembly, commissioning, and commissioning.  However, the Taweelah desalination plant meets each one of the drinking water parameters required by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including hardness, alkalinity, LSI (Langelier Saturation Index), SDI (Silt density Index), pH, or Boron content.

Other awards granted by GWI to Abengoa

This award granted by the GWI to Abengoa in the category of desalination plant of the year by Taweelah adds to the company's track record in which it already has:

-             Three awards for desalination company of the year, in 2015, 2013 and 2009.

-             Twice finalist for desalination company of the year, in 2018 and 2020.

-             Desalination Project of the Year Award, for the Shuaibah plant, in 2020.

-             Developer of the Year Award, in 2007.

Desalination Plant of the Year Award for Rabigh3 in 2022. 

About Abengoa

Abengoa applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, energy and water sectors. (www.abengoa.com) 

Communication Department:

Rocío Castro Moreno

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

E-mail: communication@abengoa.com

Investor Relations & Capital Markets:

Gonzalo Zubiría

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

E-mail: ir@abengoa.com

And on our blog: http://www.theenergyofchange.com