ACWA Power Hassyan deal: SAR1.79bn DEWA water agreement

ACWA Power has signed a SAR1.79bn ($478m) water purchase agreement with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) for a new desalination plant at Dubai’s Hassyan Complex, the Saudi utility said on Wednesday.

The 30-year agreement covers the development, financing, construction and operation of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant with a capacity of about 272,000 cubic metres a day, ACWA Power said in a statement to the Saudi Exchange. The company will hold a 40% stake in the project.

The financial impact of the ACWA Power Hassyan deal is expected to begin in 2030, once the plant has been completed and starts operating, the statement said. No related parties are involved in the transaction.

What the ACWA Power Hassyan deal adds

The new plant sits alongside the first phase of the Hassyan Independent Water Project, which ACWA Power is already developing under a separate 30-year agreement with DEWA signed in October 2023. That phase has a capacity of 180 million imperial gallons a day (MIGD), or about 818,000 cubic metres, and a project cost of around $914m.

Phase one is owned 60% by DEWA, 19.6% by EIG and 20.4% by ACWA Power through the project company Hassyan Water Company A, according to ACWA Power’s project page. The engineering, procurement and construction contract went to a joint venture of SIDEM, a Veolia subsidiary, and SEPCO III of China. The plant sits next to the Hassyan Energy power station on Dubai’s coast, the company says.

DEWA said in January 2026 that phase one was 90% complete and due for completion in the first quarter of 2027, and it commissioned Block A, with 272,765 cubic metres a day of capacity, in the first half of this year, according to Reuters. ACWA Power’s website lists a commercial operation date of 15 February 2027.

The first phase was awarded at a record-low bid of $0.36536 per cubic metre, Reuters reported. ACWA Power did not disclose the tariff for the new agreement.

Dubai’s desalination push

The Hassyan programme is part of DEWA’s plan to raise Dubai’s desalination capacity from 490 MIGD to 730 MIGD by 2030, according to ACWA Power. The authority is shifting new capacity towards SWRO technology, which consumes less energy than the thermal desalination units attached to gas-fired power stations.

DEWA expects to add 120 MIGD of SWRO capacity during 2026, Reuters reported. The expansion comes as Dubai’s population and property market continue to grow.

Why it matters for ACWA Power and investors

For ACWA Power, the agreement deepens a relationship with DEWA that already spans the first Hassyan phase and earlier phases of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, including the 950MW Noor Energy 1 concentrated solar power project inaugurated in December 2023.

The Riyadh-based company, which is 44%-owned by the Public Investment Fund and rebranded as Acwa in January 2026, operates in 14 countries with a portfolio of more than 100 projects, 78.85GW of power capacity and 9.5 million cubic metres a day of desalinated water, according to public company information.

For shareholders on the Saudi Exchange, the deal adds long-dated contracted revenue, although the earnings contribution will not appear until 2030. ACWA Power did not name an EPC contractor, identify the other shareholders in the project or give a construction start date.

The next milestones are likely to be the appointment of the remaining shareholders in the project company, financial close and the award of construction contracts. The ACWA Power Hassyan deal extends a run of Saudi energy and utilities contract wins reported by Outlook Middle East, including NMDC Energy’s AED2.8bn Aramco award and OQEP’s $2bn sukuk programme. Project details are available on the ACWA Power Hassyan IWP project page.