ACWA Power And KAUST Hosts First Edition Of ‘Innovation Days 2022’

ACWA Power, a leading developer, investor, and operator of power generation, desalinated water, and green hydrogen plants, along with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia’s foremost education and research institution, hosted ‘Innovation Days 2022’ which took place between March 23- 24, 2022.

The conference followed a close alliance between the two institutions, which have jointly operated the KAUST- ACWA Power Centre of Excellence for Desalination and Solar Power, a research and development (R&D) hub, since 2019.

The partnership with KAUST, which is one of the Kingdom’s leading innovation hubs, has enabled both parties to pursue industry-oriented research to achieve further efficiencies in producing desalinated water and generating solar power responsibly, reliably, and at the lowest possible cost.

“Innovation Days” is a new platform that hosts leading business executives, innovators, researchers, and academics from Saudi Arabia and across the world to showcase their expertise in solar energy, green hydrogen, artificial intelligence (AI), and seawater desalination. The first edition discussed the most critical topics impacting the renewables, desalination, and green hydrogen sectors, including:

• The acceleration of green technologies through innovation
• The role of technology and innovation in the energy transition
• The integration of renewables and hydrogen

Paddy Padmanathan, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at ACWA Power said, “As a company that is driving the energy transition globally, innovation lies at the heart of our growth and development strategy. We are constantly pursuing new solutions to address global power and water needs. It is imperative that we engage with the local Innovation Ecosystem including academics and researchers to integrate their work out into our facilities. With KAUST, we have built a close partnership that has already borne fruit via a dynamic research hub. And now, we hope that the dialogue around Innovation Days inspired everyone in the industry to collaborate in creating tangible solutions to realise a greener future.”

ACWA Power is currently collaborating with KAUST on projects for disruptive hydrogen electrolyzer technologies, which significantly reduce energy consumption, as well as highly efficient bifacial photovoltaic panels in their solar plants.

“KAUST seeks to address the critical global challenges across energy, water, environment, food and health, and the digital realm, through the research activities of our excellent faculty and staff and supported by the outstanding facilities in our research centers and core laboratories. We work closely with partners in the kingdom, including the Ministries, NEOM, and leading companies and we are delighted to count organizations of the calibre of ACWA Power among our excellent collaborators. The Innovation Days event with ACWA Power offers an exciting forum to support the development of technologies that can help solve local and global needs and we look forward to many future versions of this exciting new event,” said Professor Donal Bradley, KAUST Vice President for Research.