Saudi's Water-Supplier SWCC Marks 50 Years

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 21 February 2024 – As the Nation celebrates Founding Day and Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage and history on 22 February, the Kingdom’s desalinated water supplier, the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), marks its 50th Anniversary. SWCC supplies desalinated water to cities and governorates across Saudi Arabia, supporting the Kingdom's sustainable development and economic transformation as a vital resource as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

His Excellency Engineer Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Abdulkarim, the Governor of SWCC, said: “Like our nation, SWCC’s journey over the past 50 years is a story of continuous evolution and tremendous progress. Our unity and national pride as Saudis, combined with the dedication of past and present employees, as well as the strong support of our exceptional leadership, have enabled SWCC to achieve many industry world firsts, that have made our nation proud.”

Among these achievements are the world’s largest tunnel for the transmission of desalinated water, inaugurated in 2021, and the world’s largest floating plant, launched in 2022, with a production capacity of 150,000 cubic meters per day. SWCC set a Guinness World Record when it inaugurated its newest desalination facility in 2022, which had the lowest energy consumption of any such plant. Since the start of 2024, SWCC has set nine new Guinness World Records in various fields of the desalination industry.

From its beginnings in 1974, SWCC has established and operated over 33 desalination plants and 139 purification plants across the country. It has invested in research and development of innovative, energy-efficient, green technologies, and collaborated with international partners to enhance Saudi Arabia’s global influence in sustainability and water security.

SWWC is scheduled to launch three new desalination plants within the current year as part of its plans to replace old technologies with environmentally friendly ones, including the Jubail floating plant, which uses reverse osmosis technology with a production capacity of more than one million cubic meters of desalinated water per day.

SWCC’s Institute for Innovation in Water Technologies and Advanced Research in Jubail is one of the largest water research and development centers. The Institute currently has over 85 research projects and 11 local and international research agreements. One of SWCC’s globally renowned local innovations is extracting an effective formula from palm trees as an alternative to chemicals to use for pipe corrosion protection. The Corporation has already registered 33 patents and self-designed 20 customized plants.

The Khaybar plant is the first of its kind in the world that operates without any human intervention and solely on advanced technology and artificial intelligence. SWCC also deploys over 90 drones on three of its projects and over 70 robots in various plants across the Kingdom.

SWCC also offers the world’s biggest industry prize, a total value of USD10 million, in its Global Prize Innovation for Desalination (GPID) competition.  SWCC created GPID to advance the technologies and practices of water desalination to address global water scarcity and improve the lives of people around the world. The annual competition attracts more than 100 participants from over 27 countries.

His Excellency Al-Abdulkarim added: “Water is more than a resource; it is key to social well-being. As an entity, SWCC has an economic impact on both a micro level for individuals and a macro level for the nation. As we celebrate Saudia Arabia’s Founding Day on 22 February 2024, SWCC extends our best wishes for a prosperous and peaceful future for our great nation.”