New Mirfa IWPP Integrates the Latest Iterations of Power Generation and Desalination Technologies

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New Mirfa IWPP Integrates the Latest Iterations of Power Generation and Desalination Technologies

With a capacity of 1,600MW power and 52.5 million gallons per day of desalinated seawater, the new plant has the capacity to generate 10% of Abu Dhabi’s power requirements at peak capacity and over 5% of the Emirate’s water generation.

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Representative Image Source: Pixabay, labeled for reuse

The demand for electric power and water are inextricably linked in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). One of its newer and larger plants, the Mirfa Independent Water and Power Plant, which has a power capacity of 1.6 GW and produces 52.5 million gallons of water per day, integrates the newest iterations of power generation and desalination technologies.

Over the years, the UAE has leveraged its large oil and natural gas resources to bolster a booming economy and to support its financial and trading importance in the Middle East and around the world.

Despite years of robust economic growth, demand for both electricity and water continues to rise sharply as growing population and industrialisation eat into existing supply capacity.

Along with the solid growth of energy-intensive industries like aluminium, cement, fertilisers, and agriculture, the region’s population has increased 7.7% annually since 2014. According to the UAE State of Energy Report 2017 released in June 2017, electricity consumption—already high owing to a historically installed highly subsidized electricity tariff structure—is projected to grow by 7% to 10% annually over 2014–2020, about 2,435 GWh per year.

The country depends on natural gas for 98% of its power generation today. All gas was produced domestically until 2008, when demand outstripped supply and forced the UAE to begin liquefied natural gas imports. Despite efforts to diversify its power profile, over the short term at least, thermal technologies will continue to dominate the country’s generation mix.

The reason, many experts say, is because the UAE is one of the world’s top 10 most water-scarce countries—and it gets 90% of its water from desalination of seawater, mostly from the highly saline Arabian Gulf. Of nearly 29 GW of power generation installed in the UAE today, 24.9 GW is tied to desalination, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center suggested in an October 2017 report.

The UAE Ministry of Energy is currently working to finalise the 2036 Water Security Strategy, but for now, it appears that the country will remain reliant on efforts to boost investment in integrated power and water projects, as was pioneered by Abu Dhabi nearly three decades ago.

Read the full article on the Utilities Middle East

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