London-based Solar Water PLC recently signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian government as part of the country's clean future $500 billion "NEOM" project. The company is building the "first desalination plant with solar dome technology", a CNN Arabia report (translated on Solar Water PLC's website) explains. //

The plant is essentially "a steel pot buried underground, covered with a dome," making it look like a ball, Solar Water CEO David Reavley told CNN Arabia. The glass dome, a form of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, is surrounded by "heliostat" reflectors that focus solar radiation towards inwards. Heat is transferred to seawater within the dome, which evaporates and then condenses to form freshwater. The solar dome plant does not utilize polluting fibers that are typically used in reverse osmosis desalination technologies, and Reavley claims that it is cheap and fast to build at the same time as being carbon neutral.