Commercial operation of the complete Taweelah desalination plant in Abu Dhabi has begun following the final tests of the plant.

The water division of the Coxabengoa Group, Abengoa Water, has announced that it has completed the final tests of the commercial operation phase of the Taweelah desalination plant (Phase One and Phase Two), the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, located in Abu Dhabi.

The plant has a production capacity of 909,218 cu m per day. For 30 consecutive days, the plant passed the final performance tests, demonstrating its capacity by desalinating 204 million imperial gallons in a single day, exceeding the planned capacity by two per cent, said a statement from Coxabengoa.

The plant meets each one of the drinking water parameters required by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including hardness, alkalinity, LSI (Langelier Saturation Index), SDI (Silt density Index), pH and boron content.

Upon successful completion of the final contractual tests, the plant has been handed over to the client, the project company, Taweelah RO Desalination Company, formed by Taqa, Mubadala and Acwa Power.

Taweelah guarantees water supply to the city of Abu Dhabi (approximately four-and-a-half million people) throughout the year. It is also the emirate’s first large-scale plant to combine the production of drinking water with the generation of clean energy, thanks to the installation of a photovoltaic solar field with a capacity of more than 70 MWp.

This solar field, in turn, gives Taweelah the possibility of becoming self-sufficient in a sustainable manner and reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.

Abengoa Water’s scope of work for the Taweelah project included design, engineering, supply of the main equipment, supervision of assembly, commissioning of the reverse osmosis and post-treatment systems, advice on the pre-treatment processes carried out by third parties and operation of the plant until handover to the client.

The Taweelah desalination plant has been recognised as the desalination plant of the year 2023 at the Global Water Awards, organised by the water industry publication Global Water Intelligence (GWI).