In November 2015, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing Veolia, that its desalination subsidiary Sidem had come in 7% below the contractual energy target in the pilot programme run by Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company). A redesigned pretreatment was expected to cut civil works by a further 25%. Producing drinking water since August, the pilot was built for seawater of up to 52 g/l salinity and 42°C. Abengoa, Suez Environnement and Trevi Systems tested their own units, with a commercial plant targeted by 2020.
The report showed the Gulf region testing in 2015 how seawater desalination could run on renewable energy with lower power demand, even with very saline, warm feed water.