Taweelah IWP - The world’s largest seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant

While we were wrapping up the execution of the previous desalination plant at the site, business didn’t stop—new projects were always on the horizon.

One exciting opportunity was the Tender for Taweelah, and I didn’t hesitate to split my time between closing out the punch list for Shuaibah while also supporting the Bid Team in designing, estimating, and competing for this massive project.

The world’s largest seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant (RO) with a capacity of 200 MIGD (909,200) cubic meters of water a day.

The Players

The construction of the plant was built with a partnership between one of the leading Chinese Contractor, SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. (“SEPCOIII”) and Power Construction Corporation of China (collectively the “EPC Contractor”) and Abengoa Agua S.A. (“Abengoa”).

Taweelah RO Desalination Company has Mubadala Investment Company, ACWA Power, and TAQA as its shareholders, and has entered into a 30-year Water Purchase Agreement with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company.

Tender Stage

The capacity of the Taweelah plant was enormous, and every minor detail mattered.

I vividly remember one afternoon in a meeting room at 8:00 pm with my colleague Juan García Millán , where we opened an Excel file and brainstormed the energy consumption needed for testing and commissioning.

We broke it down step by step: pretreatment, RO, 1 rack, 2 racks, 38 racks,... performance test, reliability test, and so on.

The GWh number on the screen was staggering.

We looked at each other and said, “Wow, this plant is really huge.” How could we estimate accurately how much energy would be consumed over the next four years and commit to it?

Closing the details of this project taught me a lot, especially about putting together the most accurate estimates.

Given the plant’s huge energy consumption, it was decided to install PV panels everywhere, which helped improve the tariff. If you look at the pictures, you’ll see every available gap filled with PV panels!

I’ll never forget receiving the great news from Antonio Ramón Borrero Villalón that we had secured L1. Antonio made a huge effort in this tender, and we successfully closed the deal.

Project Stage

When the project was signed, the organization of the project stage began. I quickly realized they were assigning the best of the best. It was the A-Team—the most prepared individuals, assembled to ensure this huge challenge would become a success.

I had to push internally because I wanted to surround myself with professionals far better than me. That’s always my main objective. It’s how I learn the most.

Thankfully, I was granted the opportunity to coordinate engineering alongside Raúl García Fernández .

With the experience of our previous project, this one was definitely bigger and more complex, but I focused on the finer details, working more closely with stakeholders such as the owner, owner’s engineer, partners, design institutes, and more.

My main role was to ensure smooth internal engineering coordination and support my colleagues to meet our deadlines.

The A-Team was made up of pure quality: Antonio Muro Guerra , Diego M. Toscano Cruz , Elena Cob , Laura Baena Rodríguez , José Manuel Armario Castellano, (PMP)? , and much more.

KEY MOMENT: When organizing a project that takes almost 3–4 years to design and construct, it’s important to establish the best possible plan. This required an extraordinary effort, countless days and meetings with my colleague Antonio J. Durán, PMP , to develop a sequence that would guide us through the project. This part is absolutely fundamental.

Covid-19

In March 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic became evident.

I learned firsthand how a force majeure event can affect a project and its entire supply chain, especially when factories in China and India—key suppliers for many of our manufacturing facilities—were shut down.

And that’s where the contract came into play, thank to my colleague Alejandra for being so patient with me when redacting letters and preparing reports.

Working from home during such a critical project was challenging. We were used to sitting together face-to-face and traveling monthly for stakeholder meetings, and suddenly, everything changed.

Despite the challenges, I was amazed by how the entire team responded, overcoming obstacles and how the stakeholders worked together to push the project forward.

By early 2021, we were back in the office, and the engineering stage was nearing its completion.

Lessons Learnt

1. The 900 MLD capacity was approached in two stages with two independent lines. It turned out to be more complex than expected to ensure proper connections. The second line wasn’t just a “copy-paste” job—it required significant time and effort to consolidate correctly.
2. The intake flow was massive—2.5 million cubic meters per day coming into the seawater intake pump station. This necessitated an open intake breakwater, avoiding higher costs and a longer timeline due to the number of pipes would be needed.
3. The corrosive environment posed a significant challenge, making it difficult to design large concrete structures. Additionally, the footprint of some structures was larger than we had initially anticipated.
4. Logistics in handling such a massive project... Assigning specific laydown areas and managing transportation logistics is incredibly complex in big projects.
5. A plan is a plan, but investing time in the preparation stage for proper project control—through schedule and cost management—can make the difference between the success or failure of your project.
6. Force majeure events may seem unlikely, but they do happen, and contract management truly matters.
7. When you need to store one day's worth of produced water in tanks within a specific plot, a significant amount of space is required. The most cost-effective solution for large volumes of water is carbon steel tanks, which can store water up to 20 meters in height. You can adjust the number and diameter of the tanks to fit within the available plot.
8. Projects like these are not suited to a solopreneur approach. The success of our industry relies on collaboration—between public and private sectors, between different cultures and enterprises, and among thousands of professionals aligned with the same purpose: sustaining society and enabling growth through reliable water supplies and treatment.

"Every person, every institution, every company, or every society needs to learn at least at the same pace as the environment changes in order to survive"

I encourage you to join our Community, where we strive to learn and share knowledge in a timely manner.

Click below to access all our features, especially the new publications & articles showcase, which now includes over 150 professionals.

The Water MBA Access