Chief executive officer Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer talks about plans to build Dubai's first solar-powered desalination plant. Image Credit: File photo

Dubai: Dubai will seek partners this year to build its first solar-powered desalination plant as the emirate tries to diversify away from burning fossil fuels to increase its water supply, the head of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said in an interview.

The plant, using reverse osmosis technology, will have capacity to produce 120 million gallons a day of drinkable water by 2024, Chief executive officer Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said in Dubai.

Dewa is also developing a reservoir to hold as much as six billion gallons of water reserves, and the utility currently stores about 700 million gallons, Al Tayer said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.