The GCC is leading the world in desalination with the UAE and Saudi Arabia being market leaders, according to data published ahead of the second edition of MENA Desalination Projects Conference taking place in Abu Dhabi.
GCC countries have the highest global water desalination capacity of 81 per cent, producing around 40 per cent of the total world water desalination. Saudi Arabia is responsible for about one-fifth of global production and leads the world in the volume of desalinated water it produces which makes up 50 per cent of its water consumed. The country is the largest desalination market in the world producing around 4 million cubic meters of desalinated water per day, and approximately $80 bn is expected to be invested in new projects over the next 10 years.
The UAE is also developing key desalination projects, with the Taweelah plant in Abu Dhabi expected to have a capacity of 909,200 cubic meters of water per day and will be 44 per cent larger than the world’s current largest reverse osmosis plant and will open in Q4 2022.
In Oman, the desalination market has been expanding by 5 per cent per year. The country has a total of 9 large desalination plants, plus 47 small plants all of which supply about 86 per cent of the country’s potable water.
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