King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology “KACST” and ACWA Power Company agreed today to establish a joint research centre called “Clean Energy and Water Desalination Technologies Development Center” in the presence of His Excellency the President of KACST, Dr. Munir bin Mahmoud Al-Desouki, and the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACWA Power, Mr. Mohammad Abunayyan, and the Senior Vice President for Research and Development Sector of KACST, Dr. Talal Al-Sudairi.
The Vice President for the Energy and Industry Sector of KACST, Dr Saeed Al-Shehri, and the Executive Vice President of the Innovation and New Technology Sector at ACWA Power, Mr Thomas Altmann, represented the signing of the agreement.
The centre aims to conduct studies, scientific research and technical development in vital areas within the clean energy and water sector, including developing solar energy technologies, supporting technology devices for photovoltaic power plants for extreme climatic conditions, developing energy storage technologies to support future energy networks, and developing innovative technologies and materials for desalination membranes to reduce costs and emissions of desalination processes, as the centre will employ artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies to enable research and achieve goals.
The joint centre also aims to enhance the presence of ACWA Power within the complex of national laboratories and innovation oases to spread the culture of cooperation and innovation between the academic community and the business sector and to transfer innovative water desalination technology to various areas of the industrial sector.
On this occasion, the Vice President for the Energy and Industry Sector of KACST, Dr Saeed Al-Shehri, confirmed that the joint centre with ACWA Power, the leading company in the field of energy transformation, comes within KACST’s efforts to link technical products to the needs of public and private sectors entities and to achieve national aspirations for research, development and innovation by utilising KACST’s laboratories, scientists, incubator programs and technology accelerators to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies in the fields of water desalination and clean energy to reach the optimal energy mix that the Kingdom seeks.
Thomas Altmann commented on the collaboration: “We are thrilled to embark on an exciting journey with an esteemed organisation such as KACST, as collaboration is key to our approach to research and development. 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. Utilising the collective expertise and resources of both organisations, the collaboration will focus on optimising joint programs by developing services, pilot plants, laboratories, and cutting-edge simulation and monitoring tools.”
