Dewa completes 96.50% of SWRO water desalination plant in Jebel Ali

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has completed 96.50 per cent of the Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant at Jebel Ali Power Plant and Water Desalination Complex.

The Complex is one of the key pillars for supplying Dubai with electricity and water services, adhering to the highest standards of availability, reliability, and quality.

Dewa had awarded the implementation of the Dhs897 million plant, with a production capacity of 40 million Imperial Gallons per Day (MIGD) of desalinated water, to a consortium led by Spain’s Acciona Agua and Belhasa Six Construct (BeSIX).

Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa, noted that the project started water production to the network in March 2021. Currently, the remaining finishing works are nearing completion, while the project is expected to be fully complete in Q2 of 2022.

Al Tayer said, “At Dewa, we continue to implement electricity and water infrastructure projects to keep pace with the continuous growth in Dubai and the growing demand for electricity and water.

Dewa’s installed capacity of desalinated water is 490 MIGD, with peak water demand reaching 380 MIGD during 2021. DEWA aims to increase its SWRO production capacity to 303 MIGD by 2030.

SWRO desalination plants require less energy than Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) plants. The desalinated water production capacity will reach 730 MIGD in 2030.

“According to Dewa’s strategy, 100 per cent of desalinated water will be produced by a clean energy mix that uses both renewable energy and waste heat by 2030. This will allow Dubai to exceed global targets for using clean energy to desalinate water. Increasing the operational efficiency by decoupling desalinated water production from electricity generation will save around Dhs13 billion and reduce 44 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030,” he added.

Nasser Lootah, Executive Vice President of Generation Division at Dewa, said that Dewa adopts smart technologies that allow effective desalination plant control and monitoring, thus enhancing availability and reliability. For the first time, DEWA implemented the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) system at the “K” station SWRO plant to pre-treat sea water and remove any pollutants before the desalination process.

“This enables the desalination process to continue in all conditions, especially during red tide when total suspended solids and turbidity reach high levels.

The plant is also equipped with a Dual Media Filter (DMF), which filters and improves the quality of seawater feed, thus increasing the lifetime and performance of the reverse osmosis membranes.

Moreover, the two-pass reverse osmosis system implemented in this project guarantees a high quality of potable water,” he further added.

The SWRO plant is equipped with recovery devices with a 96 per cent efficiency rate. They utilise the high pressure from the first pass brine/reject stream and transfer it to a portion of the feed water stream to the first pass inlet. This significantly reduces electricity consumption in the high-pressure pump, enhancing the efficiency of the desalination process.

Meanwhile last week Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), has received Sun Xudong, Vice Consul-General at the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Dubai, as part of the diplomatic and consular visits made to Dewa.

During the visit, the two sides discussed ways to increase cooperation between Dewa and Chinese companies on clean and renewable energy.

Al Tayer welcomed the visit by Xudong, praising the importance of the strategic partnership between Dewa and the Chinese companies working in energy and water sectors and other areas of mutual interest.

He said that Dewa is expanding its clean energy projects, and using Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and digitisation.

Xudong commended the prosperous partnership with Dewa on renewable and clean energy projects in Dubai.

Separately, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority continued its journey of excellence and global leadership during 2021 and strengthened its position as one of the most distinguished utilities in the world in all fields. It has won 59 prestigious local, regional, and international awards, and set two world records in the Guinness World Records.

In light of its new achievements, Dewa has accrued 383 awards (67 local, 67 regional, 249 global) since 2015 to the end of 2021. One of Dewa’s most notable successes was achieving the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) in the Elite Category in 2021.

WAM