Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) expects reverse osmosis to account for more than 95 percent of Abu Dhabi’s water production by 2035, a shift away from thermal desalination that it says will be one of the two main drivers behind a projected cut of more than 45 percent in emissions from the emirate’s power and water system.
The state-owned offtaker set out its long-term outlook on 21 September to mark Zero Emissions Day. Its latest system planning forecasts total carbon emissions from power and water production falling from around 42 million tonnes in 2019 to around 23 million tonnes in 2035, even though annual electricity demand is expected to grow by roughly 70 percent between 2026 and 2033.
Solar, storage and RO
The other main driver is renewables. EWEC plans to lift Abu Dhabi’s solar capacity to 14 GW by 2030 and more than 35 GW by 2035, backed by up to 15 GW of battery storage. As that capacity comes online, the company expects gas-fired generation to play a smaller role, although it will remain in the system to balance intermittent solar output.
Mohamed Almarzooqi, EWEC’s Chief Assets Officer, said the company was actively procuring utility-scale solar, battery storage and RO desalination capacity to structurally reduce the system’s reliance on gas.
According to MEED Projects, EWEC has more than $16 billion of power and water projects in execution, including a 5.2 GW round-the-clock solar-plus-storage scheme, three 1.5 GW solar IPPs at Al-Ajban, Al-Khazna and Al-Zarraf, a 400 MW standalone battery project, and new gas capacity at Al-Dhafra and Taweelah C.
Why the RO shift matters for emissions
For decades, Abu Dhabi’s water came mainly from multi-stage flash and multi-effect distillation units bolted onto gas-fired power stations. Those cogeneration plants tie water output to power generation: to make water, turbines have to run, which forces gas burn even when solar could meet electricity demand, particularly on winter nights when power demand drops but water demand does not.
Reverse osmosis breaks that link. It uses electricity rather than steam, needs a fraction of the energy per cubic metre of thermal distillation, and can be scheduled to run hardest when solar output is high. Pairing a large RO fleet with large solar and battery capacity is what allows EWEC to forecast falling emissions against sharply rising demand.
The strategy mirrors changes across the Gulf, where utilities are retiring or converting thermal units and awarding large new SWRO contracts, as Kuwait did at Doha. It also fits the region’s broader move toward renewable-powered desalination, even as new demand from AI data centres pushes Gulf water spending higher.
EWEC said the programme supports the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035 and the UAE’s Net Zero by 2050 strategy.