Doosan Energy said it had won the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Shuaiba 3 standalone water project in Saudi Arabia. The $640 million desalination project is being developed through a special-purpose vehicle launched by Saudi utility developer ACWA Power and Hydro Holdings, owned by Saudi Arabia's PIF sovereign wealth fund.

Under the EPC contract, Doosan Energy will build a desalination plant with a daily output of 600,000 cubic meters of water and a 60MW solar power plant. Work on the project is expected to begin in September 2022 and is expected to be completed by May 2025. Once completed, the desalination plant will provide drinking water for 2 million people. The solar farm will provide electricity for the desalination plant.

In May 2022, a consortium led by Acwa Power said it had secured a major Saudi water deal worth $650 million in the city of Jubail. In June 2022, ACWA Power, Shuaiba Hydro and Shuaiba 3IWPP's off-taker, Saudi Water Cooperation, signed an agreement to restructure the Shuaiba 3 independent hydropower project.

The agreement covers the conversion and replacement of IWPP from an energy-intensive power generation and thermal desalination facility to a new seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant called the Shuaiba 3 Standalone Water Project. As a result, Shuaiba 3 stand-alone hydropower project, which will cease operations in 2025, could reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 45 million tonnes and 22 million barrels of light crude oil per year. The Shuaibah 3 IWP aims to build the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination facility at Shuaibah, located 110 kilometers south of Jeddah.

ACWA Power said the conversion from thermal energy to RO would reduce the electricity required for desalination by 70%. The new 25-year water purchase agreement is worth nearly $800 million. More than $2 billion in desalination projects were said to be underway in the UAE in May, while later this month a consortium led by Engie broke ground on a sustainable desalination plant in Saudi Arabia.Editor/XingWentao