In February 2020, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced that it had obtained a record water tariff of 0.306 US dollars per cubic metre at its Hassyan reverse osmosis plant, the lowest worldwide. The 120 MIGD facility, about 545,500 m³/d, was DEWA's first project under the independent water producer (IWP) model. Nine prequalified international bidders had received the request for proposals in October 2019. DEWA planned to choose a preferred bidder in the second quarter of 2020 and to commission the plant in August 2023.
The announcement showed how low water prices under IWP tenders had fallen at the time. Dubai relied on reverse osmosis, which according to DEWA uses less energy than the MSF distillation it had used so far.
Source: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Pressemitteilung (Kopie im Webarchiv)