Tenders for the world’s largest solar-powered seawater desalination plant in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, will be invited next month by utility company Utico Middle East.
Utico earlier this month released the prequalification tender inviting bids for the independent water project, which will be codeveloped by Utico and the winning bidder. The reverse-osmosis plant will output more than 22 MIGD (100,000 m³/d) of potable water and 20 MW of solar power.
Richard Menezes, executive vice chairman of Utico Middle East, said that the project would set a new benchmark for the desalination business model and will be the world’s greenest desalination plant with the least CO2 emissions.
Utico says the project eclipses the Al Khafji project announced by Saudi Arabia recently by generating twice as much power as the Saudi plant, whose output capacity will be 10 MIGD (45,400 m³/d) and 10 MW of power once complete. It will also be larger than Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s 10 MW solar power plant inaugurated earlier this month.