The dynamic economic development of many countries in the Middle East is placing their infrastructure under increasing strain, with growing domestic, agricultural and industrial consumption leading to evergreater water and electricity demands. The investment in power and desalination plant capacity necessary to match this growth in demand is estimated to be $5,000 million-10,000 million annually across the region, leading many governments to contract large independent water and power projects (IWPPs) to supply energy on a long-term basis.
The first-ever IWPP was the Taweelah A2 plant in Abu Dhabi, which entered commercial service in 2001. This project has been followed by other …