A new water desalination plant powered 100% by renewable energy is set to be built in OXAGON, NEOM’s advanced manufacturing and innovation city in Saudi Arabia.

This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ENOWA, the energy, water, and hydrogen subsidiary of NEOM, Japanese trading company, ITOCHU, and Veolia, a global water, waste, and energy management solutions provider.

The desalination plant, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, will produce its early-water in 2024.

The plant is expected to be key to realising ENOWA’s ambitions to create a sustainable, abundant water supply for residential, industrial, and commercial use.

Aligned with NEOM’s commitment to developing a circular economy, the new state-of-the-art plant will use advanced membrane technology to produce separate brine streams.

This enables ENOWA to produce brine-derived products, which will be developed and monetized downstream.

Brine, which is usually considered a waste output of desalination, will be used to produce significant quantities of valuable industrial materials that can be used locally or exported internationally.

“We will be producing, treating, and reusing water in one of the most water-stressed regions in the world, through sustainable, innovative and integrated solutions. This new desalination plant is one example of the type of sustainable infrastructure and circular economy we are developing to meet our zero-carbon footprint and zero-waste goals,” said Peter Terium, CEO of ENOWA.

The new plant will meet the water needs of NEOM with a production capacity of 500,000m3 of desalinated water per day by project completion in 2025, approximately 30% of NEOM’s forecasted total water demand. In line with NEOM’s environmental goals, it will use advanced and innovative membrane separation technologies to produce water, as well as concentrated brine streams.

This enables the brine to be classified as a product, rather than waste, therefore minimizing the plant’s environmental impact and redefining the entire business model for desalination facilities of the future.

Brine generated from the desalination plant will be treated by ENOWA to feed industries utilizing High Purity Industrial Salt, Bromine, Boron, Potassium, Gypsum, Magnesium and Rare Metal feedstocks.

“With our global experience, ITOCHU will enhance our contribution to sustainable living in line with the Kingdom’s and NEOM’s goal of creating a decarbonized, recycling-oriented and innovative society,” said Kenji Otsuka, CEO for Middle East Bloc of ITOCHU.

Pascal Grante, CEO of Near and Middle-East, Veolia, said that the project is aligned with the circular economy model that Veolia aims to deploy in all its projects worldwide.

The MoU is believed to support ENOWA’s ambition to develop advanced green desalination systems and create future water solutions to tackle global water scarcity.

“ENOWA’s water team is changing the future of water supply through pioneering desalination systems and technologies,” said Gavin Van Tonder, Executive Director of ENOWA Water Sector.