Abu Dhabi: With an ever-increasing demand for water in the UAE, finding new and efficient ways of meeting those needs is becoming a major challenge. Taking into account that the UAE has very scarce fresh water supplies, the magnitude of the challenge is increased further.

The UAE government has already taken several steps in preparing to meet the challenge, investing in organisations and programmes that look into using sustainable and renewable methods in water desalination.

Gulf News recently spoke to Dr Hassan Arafat, Associate Professor, Water and Environmental Engineering programme, Masdar Institute, who is currently leading the efforts in finding solutions for the UAE’s future water supply.

“The UAE has estimated that they will have a gap in water supply and demand in the coming seven years,” he said. “As a result, the UAE government is looking into options in nuclear energy-powered desalination and renewable energy-powered desalination, so that there will be a steady energy supply for new desalination plants,” he added.

According to Dr Arafat, the costs of maintaining the UAE’s current desalination efforts is in the billions.

“It costs the UAE government an average of 10 dirhams per cubic metre to produce desalinated water and, of that amount, the consumer is billed about half of that. As an industry, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to build a new desalination plant, and the annual operational costs of all plants in the UAE are probably in the billions,” he explained.

“The other alarming fact is that the UAE’s non-renewable water, which is the fossil freshwater that exists deep underground, is being withdrawn at a rate that far exceeds the natural recharge rate,” he added.

Dr Arafat currently heads his own organisation called the Membranes and Sustainable Desalination Research group, made up of several expert researchers and scientists. Working at Masdar Institute, the group has already proposed several ideas.

“We have looked at using geothermal, wind and solar energy through photovoltaic technology to power desalination operations in the UAE context,” he said.

Using renewable energy sources in itself is not simple, with each option bringing its own set of challenges. “Each of these renewable energy options has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some are most robust and sustainable, but not as cheap, while others are cheap but face challenges of intermittency,” he said.

“Geothermal energy provides a constant energy supply, but it’s not as cheap as the systems that are used to capture variable wind and solar energy,” he added.

Despite the challenges renewable sources bring, they will prove to be far more cost-effective than the current technologies that are being employed.

“In terms of cost, using renewable energy to power a desalination plant would be cheaper than producing water through the UAE’s current thermal energy-powered desalination systems,” he said.

“The reason for that is that the renewable energy-powered desalination systems we are developing, which are based on the reverse osmosis technology, have far less energy demand than the thermal energy systems,” he added.

Dr Arafat told Gulf News that a joint project is currently being worked on with an international company to find the best way to couple solar energy with reverse osmosis. “We are looking at energy storage versus water storage, plant size and location, and the technology itself,” he said.

While the research is still in progress, Dr Arafat explained that the preliminary results revealed a major reduction in costs, with the desalinated water being produced at less than $2 (7.346 dirhams) per cubic metre.

Despite the hard work and challenges, Dr Arafat is confident of its success, in large part due to the strong commitment shown by the UAE’s leadership.

“Back in 2011, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, initiated the Masdar Renewable Energy Desalination Project. Through this project, the Masdar company was tasked with looking at how renewable energy could be coupled with desalination,” he said.

Since then, the project has gone from strength to strength, according to Dr Arafat. “The project, which is now well under way, has been conducted in partnership with four major desalination companies … with that same goal of seeing how we can reduce the energy footprint and cost of desalination,” he said.

“This project reflects the UAE’s commitment to making desalination more sustainable,” he added.

Key Terms:

What is photovoltaic technology?

It is the use of devices that can convert sunlight into electrical energy.

What is reverse osmosis?

It is a filtration method that removes small particles from water in the case of ocean water. Reverse osmosis purifies the water by removing the salt, and other particles that effect the purity of the water.