EWEC forecasts more than 45% fall in power and water emissions by 2035
Emirates Water and Electricity Company says integrated planning and large-scale renewables, battery storage and reverse‑osmosis desalination will cut Abu Dhabi’s sector emissions from about 42Mt in 2019 to roughly 23Mt by 2035.
EWEC outlines pathway to a larger, cleaner system while meeting rising demand
On Zero Emissions Day, Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) set out a long-term outlook that forecasts a fall in total carbon emissions from power and water production in the UAE of over 45% by 2035. EWEC’s system planning projects emissions to decline from approximately 42 million tonnes in 2019 to around 23 million tonnes in 2035, even as electricity demand rises markedly.
EWEC notes that annual electricity demand is expected to grow by about 70% between 2026 and 2033. The company says this increase will be met without a proportional rise in emissions through strategic procurement and the expansion of low‑carbon technologies across generation and desalination.
The principal drivers of the forecast reduction are a dramatic scale‑up of utility‑scale solar photovoltaic capacity, the deployment of battery storage to firm intermittent renewables, and a decisive shift within water production towards reverse‑osmosis (RO) desalination. EWEC is scaling Abu Dhabi’s solar capacity to 14 gigawatts by 2030 and to more than 35GW by 2035, supported by up to 15GW of battery storage capacity.
As this advanced capacity enters service, EWEC expects the relative contribution of gas‑fired generation to decline. Gas plants will continue to provide flexibility to balance variable renewable output, but their overall share of emissions and generation is projected to reduce materially. Within the water sector, EWEC forecasts that its RO portfolio will account for more than 95% of total water production by 2035, significantly lowering the carbon intensity of desalination.
Mohamed Almarzooqi, Chief Assets Officer at EWEC, said the company’s strategic planning allows infrastructure to expand in step with economic growth while materially lowering emissions. He emphasised EWEC’s active procurement of solar, battery storage and RO desalination capacity to diminish structural reliance on gas‑fired generation and to strengthen both water and energy security.
EWEC frames these actions as directly supporting Abu Dhabi Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Strategic Target 2035 for electricity production in Abu Dhabi and the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategy at the federal level. The company highlighted that integrated system planning, strategic procurement and efficient operations are essential to accommodate rising demand while achieving the emissions reductions.
The announcement on Zero Emissions Day underlines the role of coordinated, long‑term infrastructure planning in transitioning the emirate’s power and water systems to a lower‑carbon profile without compromising reliability.
Source: WAM