Addleshaw Goddard wishes to congratulate His Excellency, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), and the entire DEWA team for having reached commercial close on the 180MIGD Hassyan Seawater Reverse Osmosis Project (Project) with its successful bidder, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power Company (ACWA).

On Tuesday 03 October 2023, DEWA and ACWA signed the main project agreements for the Project to reach commercial close on one of the world's largest seawater desalination projects, which will increase Dubai's installed water desalination capacity to 670MIGD upon its completion in February 2027. The Project is part of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, with DEWA announcing it as the world’s largest solar powered* desalination plant. DEWA also achieved a world record levelized cost of water (LCOW) of 0.36536 USD/m³.

Commercial close was reached in less than 10 months from the release of the request for proposal to the market. The efficiency of the process is due to the excellent leadership of DEWA's project team and underscores that DEWA has one of the most capable teams for power, water and infrastructure project development in the region and globally. The Project furthers the impressive growth of the Emirate of Dubai and its continued ambition to provide globally leading infrastructure services for its citizens and residents.

AG was honoured and pleased to act as legal advisor to DEWA on this Project, together with the excellent teams of Deloitte (financial advisor) and WSP Middle East Limited (Dubai Branch) (technical advisor), who played a fantastic role in getting this Project into the market and reaching commercial close in such a short timeframe. We thank the project teams of Deloitte and WSP for their excellent cooperation and results-focused approach in delivering this important milestone for DEWA.

We also wish to congratulate the successful ACWA team, including Mr. Mohammad Abunayyan, Founder and Chairman of ACWA, as well ACWA’s technical, financial and legal experts, for their successful bid and extremely professional conduct during the negotiations.

The AG team was led by Dubai based partner Alexander Sarac, supported by partner Robin Hickman, managing associate Philip Chalmers and associate Ryan Ogg.

The Deloitte team was led by Vishal Rander, supported by Sudarshan TM, Anurav Jain and Maha Kabtni.

The WSP team was led by Mr. Ashwani Sachar, supported by Mr. Kumar Sandeep and Ms. Swati Mishra.