Exceptional

Rather than be daunted by the rejection, Abunayyan
embraced it and was more determined than ever to prove
to the world that a small Saudi company could compete
with the global power giants. Until 2010, he remained
committed to addressing Saudi Arabia’s domestic needs,
with the focus on building capability and capacity, “to
prove to ourselves and the world that we could do it.”
Fast-forward to 2016 and ACWA Power has an
investment portfolio of 35 plants, customers on three
continents and offices in Riyadh, Dubai, Istanbul, Cairo,
Rabat, Johannesburg, Hanoi and Beijing.
“We bring competitiveness to the market, we deliver
on our promises and we support communities,” says
Abunayyan. “Our business model is simple: we want
to be around forever. In order to achieve this, we
challenge ourselves in every transaction, with every
new technological advancement, so that we continue
to raise the bar and deliver, whether it’s efficiency,
cost reliability or sustainability.”
Investing in talent
Underpinning this vision are people. With ACWA Power’s
growth comes the capacity to create high-quality jobs
and to develop a new generation of skilled workers — and
future leaders. For Abunayyan, it’s a no-brainer. “If you’re
not investing in and developing talent, then there is no
sustainability in leadership, and we are not here to be
followers,” he says. “I was given an opportunity to make
mistakes and learn from them. You have to provide the
tools so that people can learn and be able to make a real
difference. We can also learn from this new generation, as
they think differently; our biggest priority at ACWA Power
is developing our in-house capability.”
Constantly on the move and a regular visitor to all the
company’s active projects, Abunayyan takes immense
delight — and pride — in spending time with his on-site
teams, as well as with people in the communities that
have benefited from ACWA Power’s expertise.
ACWA Power is one of
the companies behind the
Bowarege Independent
Water Plant in Yanbu, Saudi
Arabia, a unique desalination
plant based on two barges.
Bringing water to the desert
In the 1950s, Mohammad Abunayyan’s father changed
the face of agriculture in Saudi Arabia. At that time,
farmers irrigated their crops by using camels and
other animals to extract water from wells. When
Abdullah R. Abunayyan introduced the diesel-powered
turbine pump, it revolutionized their working lives.
And in the 1970s, it was Abunayyan again who brought
the first pressure-regulated pump to residential
communities that had traditionally relied on gravity
to transfer water from rooftop tanks to the tap.
Locating and guaranteeing supplies of water is a vital
priority for Saudi Arabia, a country that is 95% desert
and has no permanent rivers or lakes and very little
rainfall. As the Kingdom continues its economic growth,
the demand for water keeps increasing.
The Government has addressed this in a number of
ways. For example, in the 1970s, it invested in locating
and mapping aquifers — vast underground reservoirs of
water — and then drilling deep wells in the most
promising areas.
Seawater is another important resource — Saudi
Arabia is the world’s largest producer of desalinated
water. And by 2020, the Kingdom hopes to be able to
reuse more than 65% of its water supply, with the
ambitious goal of increasing this to over 90% by 2040.
The Government has also committed more than US$66b
in long-term capital investments to water and sanitation
projects within the next decade to ensure that a lack of
water doesn’t hamper the Kingdom’s continued growth
over the coming years.
Exceptional February–June 2016
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