Veolia, a world leader in water technologies, designs and constructs one of the world’s largest energy-efficient desalination plants. Located in Abu Dhabi, this state-of-the-art Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant, called Mirfa 2, will be the third-largest desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
With a production capacity of 550,000 cubic meters of potable water per day, it will provide the essential water resource to approximately 210,000 households while offering increased efficiency and a reduced environmental footprint. The contract represents revenue of approximately 300 million euros for Veolia. Project construction began in the second quarter of 2023, so the plant can be commissioned by 2025.
How is seawater desalinated in practice?
Most of the drinking water used in the UAE comes from the sea. To manage the growth in water consumption and to compensate for the aging of existing facilities used for thermal desalination, the country has decided to use the latest advanced technologies and engineering processes to increase its desalination capacity while reducing its energy consumption during production by reverse osmosis. This is the contemporary concept for preserving the resources of the planet – a goal of the Veolia Group and part of the strategy of the UAE to achieve carbon neutrality.
As a global company, Veolia is responsible for the protection and replenishing of natural resources and implements efficient environmental solutions rapidly – not only in its own activities, but also in the businesses of its customers and partners. The plant in Abu Dhabi relies on Veolia to implement its solutions according to the latest environmental and operational standards for water desalination.
Growing desalination capacities in a sustainable way is crucial, as they are a part of the mix of solutions needed to address water scarcity across the globe, and especially in the Middle East. With Mirfa 2 Reverse Osmosis, Veolia continues to raise the bar for environmental and operational standards in desalination, further contributing to the ecological transformation of the sector, which has already made significant progress over the years,” said Estelle Brachlianoff, Chief Executive Officer of Veolia. “This project follows the successful commissioning of four other flagship desalination plants in the past 18 months to bring drinking water to more than six million people in Saudi Arabia, Umm Al Quwain (UAE), Bahrain and Iraq,” Brachlianoff added.
This is definitely an achievement for Veolia and confirms the leading role of the company in water technologies and our commitment to innovation in delivering reliable, affordable and sustainable water access solutions.
