Water desalination is a substantial, and routinely overlooked, contributor to rapidly rising electricity consumption across the Middle East. “The growth of electricity demand in the Middle East is third [highest] after just China and India,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said when unveiling the organization’s Renewables 2025 report.
In addition to rising demand for air conditioning in the MENA, Mr Birol highlighted the desalination of water as a major driver of demand growth. “It’s a major issue in Middle East and North African countries. Seven out of eight [of the most] water stressed countries in the world are in the MENA region,” he said. (CONTINUED - 795 WORDS)
