• The award, granted by the prestigious International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA), rewards the use of renewable energies by the Taweelah plant to offset the energy demand of the desalination process.
• The desalination plant has the lowest specific electricity consumption in a desalination megaproject (2.81kWh/m3) thanks to its cutting-edge technology, which allows it to offset energy demand in a sustainable way.
• Taweelah, located in Abu Dhabi, is the world’s largest desalination plant with reverse osmosis technology, with a drinking water production capacity of more than 909,218 m3 per day, guaranteeing the annual supply to four and a half million people.

Madrid, 16 December 2024. Cox, a Spanish multinational company listed on the Continuous Market and offering innovative solutions in water and energy, has received the “IDRA Award for Lowest Carbon Footprint in Desalination” for the Taweelah plant. A recognition of the team at Cox Water, Cox’s water division, granted by the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA), the world’s leading desalination and water reuse association, within the framework of the IDRA World Congress 2024 that is currently being held in Abu Dhabi.

The award shows that Taweelah, the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in production, has the lowest specific energy consumption in a desalination megaproject (2.81kWh/m3) obtained through optimised technical solutions. Among these solutions, the use of reverse osmosis membranes specially designed for this project by Toray stands out, maximizing efficiency. Taweelah, which was already recognised as the best desalination plant of the year by the Global Water Awards in 2023, is the first to combine drinking water production with clean energy generation in the emirate and contributes to reducing Abu Dhabi’s carbon footprint by 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

Enrique Riquelme, Executive Chairman of Cox, stresses that “With Taweelah we want to inspire the desalination industry towards a more sustainable future to tackle climate change. Taweelah is an example of how in desalination projects, energy demand can be largely met through projects specifically developed to improve efficiency and cost optimisation. It is the key pillar in our company’s strategy: “Energy Follows Water”.

How Taweelah works

In fact, by combining the production of drinking water (more than 909,218 m3 per day) with the generation of clean energy, thanks to the installation of a photovoltaic solar field of more than 70 MWp of power, the plant significantly reduces the demand for external energy from fossil fuels. The design with cutting-edge technologies that improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption also supports decarbonization efforts and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, self-consumption has made it possible to overcome the challenge of energy prices in Abu Dhabi, as it has been possible to supply water below 0.50 dollars/m3.

This award to Taweelah is in addition to the more than 20 awards that Cox has received from different industry organizations such as Global Water Intelligence (GWI), the Global Water Awards or the MEED Projects Awards.

The company is a world leader in the sector thanks to the continuous development and implementation of water solutions with innovative, competitive and sustainable technologies. The recognition at the IDRA World Congress reinforces Cox’s commitment to the water market: it has commissioned 10% of the world’s installed capacity (with an installed capacity of more than 4 million m3 per day) and thus continues to guarantee vital access to water for citizens and contribute to the development of different economic sectors in a context of increasingly persistent water scarcity thanks to its 30 desalination plants.