Desalination keeps the Gulf supplied with drinking water, but it comes with a heavy energy bill. Analysts are increasingly arguing that Saudi Arabia’s next efficiency gains will come from treating water and power as a single system rather than two separate ones.
An energy-hungry process
An Energy Intelligence analysis of the water-energy nexus describes desalination as one of the most energy-demanding industrial processes, with the Gulf Cooperation Council region relying on it for the majority of its freshwater. A World Bank assessment of the region’s water-energy links puts the share of national electricity supply going to desalination at roughly 7 percent in Saudi Arabia, compared with about 20 percent in the United Arab Emirates and 13 percent in Qatar.
Why reverse osmosis fits solar
The Energy Intelligence piece notes that reverse osmosis (RO) is electrically driven, which makes it a natural partner for solar PV, unlike thermal processes such as multi-stage flash. It says solar-powered RO plants are being deployed across the GCC at growing scale, points to Neom’s vision of a city run entirely on renewable energy with solar-driven desalination, and highlights that solar PV costs have fallen by more than 90 percent over the past decade. The Saudi Green Initiative’s net-zero-by-2060 ambition adds policy pressure to decarbonise water production.
Planning water and power together
Research on Neom, published through the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central, tested a framework that co-optimises investment in the water and power systems together. The study found that co-optimisation delivers total cost savings for the power sector compared with planning each system independently, with the biggest reductions in systems that have higher shares of non-dispatchable renewables such as solar and wind. The same paper reviews earlier work on scheduling desalination plants alongside smart grids so that water production can act as a buffer when renewable output is interrupted.
What to watch
The practical message for operators and investors is that flexibility matters as much as efficiency: plants that can shift load toward sunny hours, and utilities that plan water capacity alongside generation, stand to lower both costs and emissions. The Neom co-optimisation study is a simulation, so real-world savings will depend on plant design, storage and market rules.
Related coverage
- Saudi Solar-Powered Desalination Strengthens Shuaibah Water Project
- Saudi Arabia Accelerates Desalination Leadership with Major Investments and Technology Upgrades
- ACWA Power-Led Consortium Reaches Commercial Operation on $1.84 Billion Red Sea Desalination and Utilities Project
- Life Cycle Study Finds Renewable-Powered Desalination Cuts Carbon by Up to 45%
Sources: Energy Intelligence; World Bank; Simulated co-optimization of renewable energy and desalination systems in Neom, Saudi Arabia.