EWEC, Emirates Water and Electricity Company, awarded the water desalination plant Mirfa 2 Reverse Osmosis (M2 RO) to a consortium consisting of Engie and TAQA.

TAQA will take the majority share of the equity in the project and hold a stake in the operations and maintenance company. The project’s Water Purchase Agreement was signed between TAQA, Engie, and EWEC.

The M2 RO project will be 60% owned by TAQA, while the remaining 40% will be owned by ENGIE. The project’s financial closure is expected to occur in Q1 2023, enabling initial water production in the summer of 2025, and full production by Q3 of 2025.

“We look forward to this strategic collaboration with TAQA and ENGIE, which will see the development of the UAE’s third largest low-carbon intensive RO water desalination plant. The development of the M2 RO water desalination project enables EWEC to further accelerate its strategic initiative of decoupling water desalination operations from power generation, and implement tangible and effective actions that contribute to the achievement of UAE Water Security Strategy 2036 and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 strategic initiative objectives,” Othman Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of EWEC, said.

The M2 RO project will desalinate seawater using low-carbon intensive RO technology to produce up to 120 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) of potable water, equivalent to approximately 550,000 cubic meters per day. According to the press statement, this is sufficient to meet the water demand of up to 210,000 households in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.