The world's largest solar water desalination plant will be established in the Kingdom by 2013, said Prince Dr. Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed, Vice President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) for Research Institutes, while inaugurating an international conference here Monday. The prince inaugurated the Saudi International Conference for Water Technology 2011 on behalf of KACST's President Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, in the presence of the Minister of Water and Electricity Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al-Hussayen. Addressing the conference organized by KACST, Prince Turki said research, development and investment in water technologies was a strategic choice for Saudi Arabia due to the lack of traditional water sources, the high costs of their conservation as well as the high costs of water desalination and treatment. He pointed out that the King Abdullah Initiative for Water Desalination by Solar Energy is aimed at finding technical solutions for water desalination at low costs to contribute to supporting the national economy. Prince Turki said that work is currently underway to establish the largest water desalination plant by solar energy in the world in the city of Khafji with a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters per day as a first stage of the initiative which is expected to be completed in 2013 (1434H).
