Desalination Company of the Year
Acwa
What is it?
A Saudi desalination and power project developer with a portfolio of 9.3 million m³/d of seawater desalination capacity, tackling water scarcity at scale for over two decades.
What has it done?
2025 was a landmark year for Acwa. It successfully commissioned the Shoaiba 3 IWP, Saudi Arabia’s first large-scale MSF-to-RO conversion, while securing Ras Mohaisen, the sole major Gulf IWP to reach financial close last year. Its international portfolio blossomed with new projects in Senegal and Azerbaijan.
What makes it special?
- Acwa stands at the forefront of a new paradigm in global desalination, one where the GCC exports rather than imports world-class expertise. Building on an SWRO project win in Azerbaijan, Acwa notched up Senegal’s first desalination mega-project at Grande Côte.
- The successful commissioning of Saudi Arabia’s first large-scale MSF replacement plant at Shoaiba 3 marks the largest such conversion anywhere in the world. It sets the gold standard for all future thermal-to-RO conversions in the GCC.
- Acwa’s win at Ras Mohaisen was complemented by the signing of a water purchase agreement for Kuwait’s latest IWPP at Az Zour. In an increasingly competitive environment, the company’s role in driving down the cost of desalinated water has ensured its lasting reputation as the region’s pre-eminent desalination developer.
Lantania
What is it?
A Spanish EPC contractor specialising in integrated water cycle projects, with a rapidly expanding international presence in large-scale desalination.
What has it done?
2025 saw Lantania cement its position as one of the rising stars of the global desalination EPC market, building on its landmark Jubail 3A reference in Saudi Arabia by winning more than 900,000m³/d of new capacity across the Gulf and North Africa.
What makes it special?
- 2025 saw Lantania consolidate its beachhead in the notoriously competitive GCC project market, taking its reference portfolio to more than 1.5 million m3/d.
- In a deal that marked a turning point for Lantania’s global ambitions, the company announced a majority acquisition of its water EPC arm by Abu Dhabi-based NMDC Group. The partnership promises to combine Lantania’s desalination expertise and engineering credentials with NMDC’s commercial firepower, unlocking new markets across the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
- 2025 saw Lantania sign its first contract in North Africa for a reverse osmosis plant in Tunisia supplying irrigation water for greenhouse operations. The project signals the company’s impressive flexibility in applying its technical capabilities to serve an ever broader range of end-uses.
Shanghai Electric
What is it?
A Chinese energy and engineering group delivering large-scale seawater desalination and industrial water solutions through thermal, membrane, and hybrid systems, with 1.66 million m³/d of installed capacity.
What has it done?
In 2025 Shanghai Electric delivered milestone projects that illustrate its growing international ambition and domestic technological leadership. The award of the RO membrane systems contract for Morocco’s landmark Safi Wave 2 project was complemented by the completion of the Yulong F-MED-RO plant, establishing a world first in industrial hybrid desalination.
What makes it special?
- Shanghai Electric represents the vanguard of a new paradigm reshaping the global desalination landscape: as thinning margins and escalating project risk deter established Western contractors, Chinese companies’ greater appetite for risk and lower return thresholds are enabling them to capture market share at scale.
- The Yulong Petrochemical F-MED-RO plant is the world’s first industrial-scale application of Shanghai Electric’s proprietary Flash MED technology. By harnessing lower-grade industrial waste heat to both drive thermal desalination and maintain consistent RO feedwater temperatures year-round, the company demonstrated an innovative new take on a technology many had written off.
- While most large-scale desalination contractors are effectively pure-play SWRO specialists, Shanghai Electric demonstrated in a single year its ability to operate at the frontier of both membrane and thermal technology – on opposite sides of the world.
VA Tech Wabag
What is it?
An Indian EPC contractor and long-term operator with three decades of experience delivering seawater and brackish water desalination solutions across municipal and industrial markets.
What has it done?
In 2025, Wabag successfully re-secured the 300,000m³/d Yanbu SWRO project, while executing more than 1,000,000 m³/d of capacity across India and the Middle East. Its technical capabilities saw it tackle radium removal in brackish feedwater and ultrapure water production for cutting-edge industrial applications.
What makes it special?
- 2025 saw Wabag consolidate its position as one of the most active desalination contractors in the Middle East and South Asia. Its active portfolio spans municipal mega-projects in Saudi Arabia and India, as well as industrial water packages in Senegal.
- Meeting challenging specifications is second nature to Wabag. At Al Jouf in Saudi Arabia, it deployed ceramic UF pre-treatment to remove radium isotopes in a brackish feedwater stream, while in India, it is delivering an end-to-end ZLD RO system for a refinery and a ZLD UPW system for a solar cell production facility.
- In an impressive feat of marine engineering, Wabag fast-tracked the installation of India’s longest single seawater intake pipeline (>1.1km) at the Perur SWRO plant in Chennai. It is this sort of capability that underpins Wabag’s ability to deliver to spec at mega-scale, time after time.
Wetico
What is it?
A Saudi Arabia-based desalination, water, and wastewater EPC contractor active across the MENA region.
What has it done?
In 2025 Wetico delivered on the most ambitious programme in its history, successfully commissioning its 900,000m³/d share of Algeria’s five-plant desalination build-out, while simultaneously advancing Rabigh 4 to the final stages of its performance run. It also extended its reach with new contracts in Egypt and the UAE.
What makes it special?
- In a remarkable feat of parallel execution in the face of logistical disruption, 2025 saw Wetico successfully deliver its 900,000m3/d majority share of Algeria’s massive 1.5 million m3/d build-out, while simultaneously advancing Saudi Arabia’s Rabigh 4 mega-project to the final stages of its performance run.
- Despite the speed of delivery, Wetico demonstrated its commitment to balancing technical performance, sustainability, and risk management, employing process optimisation to deliver cost and performance benefits, all while ensuring environmental compliance.
- The full acquisition of Wetico’s Seville-based design subsidiary, Innovative Water Applications Company, shows a company determined to own the technical depth that underpins its competitiveness. The deal brought critical engineering expertise fully in-house, deepening the self-sufficiency that will define its next chapter of growth.