Abu Dhabi – June 5, 2025 — In a bold step toward supporting Abu Dhabi’s clean energy transition, Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) has unveiled a plan to recycle and repurpose existing power and water plants. The initiative, revealed during a panel at the World Utilities Congress held in Abu Dhabi from May 27–29, 2025, aims to drive decarbonisation while bolstering grid reliability.
Mark Hedges, Executive Director of Asset Management at EWEC, emphasized that innovation in the energy sector doesn’t always mean building from scratch. “We’re actually converting old plants to standby power—power only,” he said. “They’re operating minimally, just enough to stabilize the grid.”
A key part of this strategy involves the Shuweihat S1 facility. Originally commissioned in 2005, the plant has a 1.5 GW power capacity and 455,000 m³/day water output. Operated by Sumitomo Corporation with TAQA and ENGIE, Shuweihat S1’s Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was recently extended by 15 years. Under the new model, it will retire its water desalination role and transition into a natural gas-fired open-cycle power plant operating on-demand at a reduced 1,130 MW capacity.
This shift marks the first long-term plant conversion of its kind in the UAE, and according to Hedges, it delivers three major benefits:
- Improved efficiency: By redirecting steam from desalination to power generation, overall system performance is enhanced.
- Significant cost savings: Avoiding new plant builds reduces long-term financial and environmental costs. “We don’t want to commit to a brand-new plant with a 30-year lifespan that could conflict with our 2050 net-zero ambitions,” Hedges explained.
- Enhanced grid resilience: Standby capacity supports a more stable grid, especially important as renewable energy sources grow in share and variability.
“This recycling of plants is really a life-extension project that benefits the entire system,” Hedges said.
EWEC’s broader sustainability strategy also includes phasing out traditional thermal desalination in favor of reverse osmosis (RO), a more energy-efficient and low-carbon method. “All of our water is now produced via RO powered by a decarbonising grid,” Hedges noted.
According to EWEC’s 2024–2030 Statement of Future Capacity Requirements, more than 7 GW of power and over 2 million m³/day of water production capacity will reach the end of their current contracts by 2037. EWEC plans to extend and reconfigure these facilities, expecting to add 3.5 GW of power capacity by 2030 and more than 6 GW by 2035.
The initiative reinforces EWEC’s role in shaping a sustainable energy and water future for Abu Dhabi—balancing cost, capacity, and climate goals.
