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Acwa Power's desalination plant in Senegal will have a capacity of 400,000 cubic metres per day

Acwa Power to build $800m desalination plant in Senegal

Acwa Power, Saudi Arabia’s operator of power generation and desalinated water production plants, will construct a SAR3 billion ($800 million) desalination plant in Dakar, Senegal. The company signed an agreement with Senegal’s ministry of water and sanitation and state-backed National Water Company, to build a 400,000 cubic metres per day desalination plant in Dakar. The […]

Adult, Male, Man tomatoes hydroponics Saudi Arabia Dava agriculture

Hydroponics allows family to become first Saudi tomato exporter

A family company has become the first exporter of tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, thanks to drip irrigation, which has made sending fruit and vegetables from the Gulf to lucrative European markets economically viable.  Dava, a private company set up by the Batal family in 2017, began exporting various types of tomato and “snack peppers” – […]

An alfalfa field in Arizona. Fondomonte used land in the state to grow the water-intensive crop for export to Saudi Arabia

Saudi company faces blowback over water use in Arizona

The US state of Arizona has cancelled land lease deals with a subsidiary of the Saudi dairy company Almarai after complaints of groundwater being depleted in the arid region. The cancellation highlights tensions over corporations controlling foreign land for food security.  In 2014 Almarai’s Fondomonte bought and leased thousands of acres in Arizona and California, […]

An average of 1.4 GW of new solar capacity will be needed per year until 2037 to meet the increasing demand for electricity in Abu Dhabi engineers solar panels hard hats solar power

Abu Dhabi plans decade of solar power launches

Abu Dhabi is to launch a new solar power project each year for a decade, starting in 2027, Bruce Smith, strategy and planning executive director at the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), told AGBI. EWEC is also exploring the issuance of a green bond to finance this series of projects, he said. The company […]

An Acwa Power wind turbine in Morocco. The company says not enough developers are in Africa

Acwa Power plans a bold investment future in Africa

Saudi Arabia-listed Acwa Power is targeting future investments in Africa as part of the clean energy company’s plan to triple in size by 2030. “Africa needs that energy transition. But there aren’t enough developers going there and asking questions,” said Raad Al-Saady, vice chairman and managing director of Acwa Power, during a panel discussion at […]

Metito Utilities and Tahliya Group executives sign the agreement to develop an irrigation project in Morocco

UAE companies to develop irrigation project in Morocco

Dubai-based Metito Utilities and Tahliya Group, a UAE-based infrastructure company in Africa, have signed an agreement to develop an irrigation project using desalinated water in Morocco. The desalination projects will be powered by renewable energy, the companies said in a statement released during the Cop28 climate summit taking place in Dubai. No financial details on […]

Water scarcity in Iraq is impacting on Mustafa Ahmed, 13, forcing his family to sell their buffalo

UAE pledges $150m for Mena water security

A $150 million commitment from the UAE at Cop28 to fund water security solutions in vulnerable countries is a step in the right direction but more must be done to address the issue, say experts. Speaking at a panel discussion at the climate change conference in Dubai, Ramadan Assi, executive adviser for strategic partnerships at […]

Harvesting wheat in Sharkia, Egypt. The Opec Fund is backing food security projects in Egypt and Jordan – both big importers of grain

Opec Fund piles up financing for wheat, wind and water

The Opec Fund for International Development is on track to meet its pledges to increase grants and loans to climate-related projects, its Middle East and North Africa head has told AGBI.  Musab Alomar, the fund’s director of public sector operations for Mena, said climate financing made up 33 percent of all Opec Fund approvals in […]

Drinking water from an outdoor tap in Egypt

AI to help drive Middle East water reuse 

The International Water Management Institute is developing an AI platform to improve wastewater reuse in the Middle East and North Africa region, backed by a $1 million grant from Google.  Water scarcity is a concern in the region. Almost three-quarters (73 percent) of the 1,000 UAE respondents to a recent survey listed access to clean […]

A woman collects water from a well in Tunis. Tunisia is having to operate a quota system for tap water

Droughts could cost Tunisia $1bn annually

Water shortages in Tunisia could cost the North African country up to $1.3 billion annually by 2030, according to a report from the World Bank. For the sixth year in a row, below-average rainfall impacted the country’s agricultural production. The sector’s value fell 9 percent in real terms in the first half of this year […]

Metito desalination project in Port Ghalib Egypt

Alpha Dhabi takes over water specialist Metito

Investment company Alpha Dhabi announced on Monday the acquisition of a majority stake in Metito Holdings, a company involved in the water and wastewater industry worldwide.  Pending regulatory approvals, the deal marks Abu Dhabi-based Alpha Dhabi’s entry into the water and wastewater sector, with its CEO saying the need for sustainable water solutions “has never […]

Saudi water agency Global Water Organisation

Saudi water agency seeking global partnerships

A Saudi government body set up this week to address global water challenges hopes to collaborate with other organisations across the world to meet its goals, the kingdom’s environment minister said on Friday.  “The vision for this initiative is not just about creating a research and policy platform,” said Abdul Rahman Al Fadhli, Saudi Arabia’s […]