The country’s first desalination plant to run on solar energy is open and working.

The small plant, about 300 kilometres from the capital in Umm Al Zamoul, is in trial operation and the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, which commissioned the project, is to take over next week from the German company that designed and built it.

The announcement was made yesterday during a seminar organised by the agency and the Netherlands embassy, ahead of the opening today of the World Future Energy Summit.

Abu Dhabi’s attempts to use solar power in desalination date from the 1980s, when a small demonstration plant was built at the Umm al Nar desalination and power complex. That unit did not perform up to expectations, experts said.

The Umm Al Zamoul plant, powered by photovoltaic panels, uses water from an underground aquifer that is saltier than seawater. It is performing better than its designers intended, said Majid al Mansouri, the environment agency’s secretary general.

The plant has a capacity of 15,000 imperial gallons per day. The project will be monitored by the agency for a year in the hope that it will be a way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. If it is successful, it could be replicated on a larger scale, said Dr Mohammed Dawoud, manager of water resources at the agency.

The UAE is one of the largest per capita water users in the world, at 550 litres per person per day. The country relies on desalination, which removes the salts from seawater, to satisfy most of its freshwater demands.

In Abu Dhabi, water demand is expected to increase from the current 650 million cubic metres a year to 1.2 billion cubic metres within 20 years, Mr al Mansouri said.

While the Government will continue to encourage population growth, it is becoming more aware of the negative environmental consequences of desalination plants, which require large amounts of energy. They contribute significantly to emissions of greenhouse gases.

The environment agency has been working with the Dubai-based International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture to assess Abu Dhabi’s water needs until 2025 and develop a plan to meet them.

The plan, which is to be released soon, will recommend the use of solar-powered desalination plants.

It also will call for a plumbing code with an emphasis on water saving-devices in homes and offices and lower-grade water where it is safe.

Dr Dawoud said the plan also would promote the use of subsurface water irrigation, which makes irrigating farms and gardens more efficient.

The plan further will examine how to reduce water demand and recommend changes in the agriculture sector, the largest consumer of water. The nation’s 25,000 farms use 56 per cent of the fresh water in addition to the 16 per cent consumed by the forestry sector.

Yesterday’s seminar was attended by the Prince of Orange, crown prince of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, Dr Rashid bin Fahad, the UAE Minister of Environment and Water, and other high-ranking government officials and water management specialists.

The three-day World Future Energy Summit opens today at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre. National leaders, energy and environmental policy makers, investors, technology providers and sustainability activists will attend the gathering, which is sponsored by Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.