Saudi Arabia’s NEOM to build renewable-powered desalination plant
The controversial planned city will partner with a Japanese and a French company in the endeavor.
Saudi Arabia’s futuristic planned city NEOM plans to build a water desalination plant powered by renewable energy.
NEOM signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday with the Japanese trading company Itochu and the French energy company Veolia to build a desalination facility powered completely from renewable energy. NEOM plans for the facility to produce 500,000 cubic meters a day of water by early 2024, according to a press release.
What it is: Desalination is the process of separating salt from ocean or seawater to create fresh water that can be used for drinking. It is relatively common in the Gulf, where water shortages are an issue.
NEOM did not specify what type of renewable energy would be used to power the desalination process. In March, the planned city unveiled plans to build a green hydrogen facility. Turkey uses geothermal energy for water desalination.
