RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and ACWA Power Company signed an agreement on Sunday to establish a joint “Clean Energy and Water Desalination Technologies Development Center”.
KACST Vice President for the Energy and Industry Sector Dr. Saeed Al-Shehri and Executive Vice President of Innovation and New Technology Sector at ACWA Power Thomas Altmann signed the agreement, according to a press release from KACST.
From KACST President Dr. Munir bin Mahmoud Al-Desouki, Senior Vice President for the Research and Development Sector Dr. Talal Al-Sudairi, ACWA Power Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors Mohammad Abunayyan were present on the occasion.
The center will conduct studies, scientific research, and work to attain technical development in clean energy and water sector.
It will also work in developing solar energy technologies, energy storage technologies to support future energy networks.
It will try to develop innovative technologies and materials for desalination membranes, to reduce costs and emissions of desalination processes.
The center will employ artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies to help the process of research and achieve goals.
The joint center aims to increase the contribution of ACWA Power in national laboratories, to spread the culture of cooperation and innovation in the academic community and business sector. It also aims to transfer innovative water desalination technology to the industrial sector.
Saeed said that the center is part of KACST’s efforts to link technical products to the needs of public and private sector entities.
The center also aims utilize KACST’s laboratories, scientists, incubator programs and technology accelerators to develop environment friendly and sustainable technologies for water desalination and clean energy production, thus helping reach the optimal energy mix that the Kingdom seeks, the press release added.
Altmann said, “The partnership aims to develop practical, market-ready solutions to address commercial needs with agility and innovation. It also seeks to contribute to the local research and innovation ecosystem, in line with the objectives of Vision 2030.”
He said, “Utilizing both organizations’ collective expertise and resources, the collaboration will focus on optimizing joint programs by developing services, pilot plants, laboratories and cutting-edge simulation and monitoring tools.”