Desalination Company of the Year
Gradiant
What is it?
A US-based desalination technology expert aiming to solve the toughest challenges in the industrial water sector through a wide range of environmentally friendly solutions, powered by an ever-growing suite of innovative technologies.
What has it done?
Gradiant surged ahead in 2022, doubling its 2021 revenues, aggressively hiring new talent and expanding its capabilities as an end-to-end solutions provider. Capitalising on a major funding injection the year before, the company made significant acquisitions in the desalination space which unlocked digital and manufacturing synergies with its existing technologies.
What makes it special?
Gradiant took confident strides in 2022 towards its goal of deploying its technologies on a service basis, making valuable use of the $105 million the company received in a 2021 funding round. Aided by new manufacturing capabilities acquired with Dubai-based OEM and service provider Advanced Watertek, Gradiant has now come into its own as a capable global end-to-end solutions provider.
The stunning acquisition of Canada-based machine learning specialist Synauta unlocked powerful new digital synergies between Synauta’s machine learning optimisations and Gradiant’s existing reverse technology as part of Gradiant’s end-to-end RO Infinity solution, as well as providing savings at Gradiant’s existing plants under its build-own-operate (BOO) business model.
The last year saw incredible successes for Gradiant’s proprietary counterflow reverse osmosis (CFRO) technology, successfully gaining traction for a new approach in a notoriously risk-averse market. After three years of continuous piloting at a site in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Gradiant’s hard work was rewarded with a full-scale contract to upgrade SAWACO’s Store City plant in the city. With new pilots underway in Perth (Australia) and plans to deploy CFRO in lithium recovery, Gradiant has positioned CFRO as one of the hottest technologies in the sector and an invaluable tool for an industry facing growing controversy around brine management.
Distinction
ACWA Power
What is it?
A Saudi desalination and power generation project developer, investor, owner and operator. The company has more than 15 years’ expertise developing some of the world’s largest water projects and has a project portfolio worth more than $72 billion, including 6.4 million m3/d of successfully developed seawater desalination projects.
What has it done?
Last year saw ACWA Power capitalise on the runaway success of its 2021 IPO. It became 2022’s most successful water stock, achieving blistering operating profits, and delivering the company’s highest ever volume of new installed desalination capacity, while simultaneously demonstrating a dedication to affordable water, plant efficiency and technical innovation.
What makes it special?
In a crushing demonstration of its ever-growing capability as a project developer, 2022 saw ACWA Power successfully deliver a record 2.4 million m3/d of new desalination capacity, overcoming the challenges of a global pandemic to commission four new desalination mega-projects without delays. Startup at the Taweelah (UAE), Umm Al Quwain (UAE), Rabigh 3 (Saudi) and Ad Dur 2 (Bahrain) independent water projects represents a colossal contribution to water supply in the water-starved GCC region.
The past year saw ACWA Power display its continued skill in familiar territory while branching out beyond the GCC for the first time. A contract win for a mega-project at Shoaiba (Saudi Arabia) and the low bid for another at Rabigh (Saudi Arabia) reflect the company’s dominance in the notoriously competitive GCC project markets, while a desalination deal with the government of Senegal places ACWA Power at the forefront of affordable desalinated water in emerging markets.
In a sector where the price of water is law, ACWA Power showed its dedication to the pursuit of innovation and energy efficiency by developing hydraulic injection desalination: a new thermal technology which may offer a specific energy consumption below 2kWh/m3, significantly lower than existing reverse osmosis benchmarks.