ACWA Power and VoltStorage Collaborate on Iron Salt Battery

Saudi-listed ACWA Power, the world’s largest private water desalination company, leader in energy transition and first mover into green hydrogen and VoltStorage agree on a strategic collaboration to jointly explore the potential of VoltStorage’s iron salt battery technology.

ACWA Power and VoltStorage Collaborate for Renewable Energy Provision for Critical Infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa

  • VoltStorage´s Iron Salt battery technology will help to decarbonize the energy needed for ACWA´s seawater desalination
  • Water management powered by renewable energy, and backed up by energy storage systems ideal for high temperature environments

Munich, Germany / Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Saudi-listed ACWA Power, the world’s largest private water desalination company, leader in energy transition and first mover into green hydrogen and VoltStorage, a Germany-based innovator specializing in LDES (Long Duration Energy Storage) solutions agree on a strategic collaboration to jointly explore the potential of VoltStorage’s iron salt battery technology. This ground-breaking technology, which is based on the redox flow technology and regarded as one of the key levers for the energy transition, is aimed to store and provide renewable energy for ACWA Power´s seawater desalination applications in the Middle East and Africa, marking it the first evaluation of that technology for this specific use-case.

VoltStorage is renowned for its environmentally friendly, safe, and long-lasting large-scale battery development based on iron and salt. Other than alternative technologies that use materials such as lithium, a solution based on non-flammable materials iron and salt is particularly well-suited for regions with high temperatures, where water scarcity increases the critical need for efficient seawater desalination.

For ACWA Power, the iron salt battery solution has the potential to provide the missing link to decarbonize its seawater desalination plants, as the storage technology will enable the company to run the desalination plant fully on renewables. By this, ACWA Power would be able to fulfill its aim to be a leader in a clean energy transition and to provide solutions to sustainably improve living conditions of millions of people.

The strategic collaboration encompasses techno-economic studies to optimize the use of iron salt batteries for ACWA Power's needs as well as performance evaluation and testing in real conditions in hot climate conditions. In addition, joint evaluation of applications and field testing will be conducted.

Marco Arcelli, the CEO of ACWA Power said: “The partnership with VoltStorage reflects ACWA Power's commitment to exploring innovative solutions for sustainable energy. We are very much looking forward to joint explore the possibilities of the company´s groundbreaking innovation.”

Jakob Bitner, Co-Founder and CEO of VoltStorage adds: "We are excited to embark on this journey with ACWA Power. This strategic collaboration allows us to evaluate the potential of our iron salt redox flow energy storage technology in a real-world scenario, specifically in the context of seawater desalination. It marks a crucial step toward sustainable practices and the provision of energy."

Representatives of both ACWA Power and VoltStorage signed the agreement during the ACWA Innovation Days in January 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Picture: Thomas Altmann (left), Executive Vice President Innovation & New Technology at ACWA Power, and Jakob Bitner (right), Co-founder and CEO VoltStorage.


About ACWA Power:
ACWA Power (TADAWUL:2082) is a Saudi-listed company and the world's largest private water desalination company, the first mover into green hydrogen, and a leader in energy transition. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ACWA Power employs over 4,000 people and is currently present in 12 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. ACWA Power’s portfolio comprises 81 projects in operation, advanced development, or construction with an investment value of SAR 317.67 billion (USD 84.7 billion), and the capacity to generate 55 GW of power and manage 7.64 million m3/day of desalinated water per day, delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long term, off-taker contracts under utility services outsourcing and Public-Private-Partnership models. www.acwapower.com

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