Saudi Arabia: The Public Investment Fund-owned ACWA Power on Monday signed an industrial development agreement with Water Global Access, a research and technology development firm, to integrate hydraulic injection desalination, HID, technology at scale. 

The deal was signed on the sidelines of the Future of Desalination International Conference in Riyadh.

The agreement comes six months after both companies signed a collaboration agreement to develop a roadmap for HID across ACWA Power’s projects, said a press release. 

The agreement will involve the implementation of a pilot project that includes HID in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, following research that has demonstrated that the technology has the potential to break the 2 kWhr barrier of energy consumption to produce 1 cubic meter of water from seawater. 

“With continued industrialization and demographic growth, water consumption across the world continues to rise at a rapid rate requiring urgent solutions. The potential emanating from water production utilizing cost effective, low carbon-intensive technologies is truly exponential and we are proud to pilot the ground-breaking HID technology, which is going to be a giant step forward in revolutionizing the desalination industry,” said Paddy Padmanathan, vice chairman and CEO of ACWA Power. 

Energy consumption in desalination plants is also referred to as the total specific energy consumption.

“With its low energy footprint, HID technology has the potential to lower operational costs for our desalination business, which we hope will lead to lower tariffs in the long term. For governments, this means that it is more affordable to produce water. For investors, this could mean higher profits per facility. And for communities, it means that they are getting usable water with the least impact on the environment.” he added

“Technical readiness tests confirm that the capacity of HID to break the 2kWh/m3 seawater desalination threshold, opening a new paradigm in the industry’s efficiency levels,” WGA CEO Eusebi Nomen.

“We also welcome ACWA Power’s commitment in this technology, which further cements their position as a global leader in high impact water innovation,” he added.