Research contract signed to study potential use of solar power for desalination

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and Masdar Institute of Science and Technology will be taking part in a research along with GDF Suez and Suez Environnement which will study possible use of solar power for seawater desalination.

The research project is part of a contract signed in June 2014 by Degrémont, which is a subsidiary of Suez Environnement.

According to the contract, the French utility will construct a seawater desalination plant which will be potentially powered by 100% renewable energy, leaving no environmental impact.

The research will be conducted at GDF Suez Lab Middle East, India and Africa, which is GDF Suez’s new R&D laboratory at Abu Dhabi.

Laborelec will support the contract, while the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology will co-ordinate with GDF Suez for the research along with Degrémont.

Suez Environnement deputy chief executive officer in charge of the international division Marie-Ange Debon said: "Our company, which is at the cutting edge of water treatment technologies, is proud to participate in this project and to go further in providing sustainable solutions through renewable energy applications."

Degrémont recently completed the fifth expansion of the Doha West wastewater treatment plant. It was also responsible for setting up wastewater treatment plants at Barwa City and Lusail in Qatar.

The firm also supplied and installed 33 modular desalination units for treating brackish water at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

GDF Suez owns five electricity generation and water production plants in the UAE. The firm has an electricity production capacity of 27GW and a desalination capacity of 5,273,000 m3/day, in operation and under construction.

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Image: Contract signing ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of Sipa Press.