Spanish company Abengoa, in consortium with SEPCOIII is set to construct a 600,000m3 / day desalination plant in Saudi Arabia; the second largest plant with reverse osmosis technology in the country. Specifically, the company will be responsible for the engineering, supply and construction of the Jubail 3A reverse osmosis desalination plant, located to the south of the city of the same name, in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, in the northeast of the country.
The plant will have the same capacity as the Rabigh III plant already under construction and will guarantee the supply of drinking water to the Eastern provinces, Riyadh and Qassim throughout the year. The project contemplates the construction of tanks for the storage of treated water with a capacity of one day of production, as well as a photovoltaic solar field, which will reduce, in a sustainable way, the energy consumption of the desalination plant network.
Scope of the project
The scope of the project includes the capture of seawater, pumping, pre-treatment, reverse osmosis system with energy recovery, post-treatment, pumping station, product water storage, effluent treatment, discharge through outfall and photovoltaic solar field, as well as associated electrical installations that include the construction of a 380/33 kV electrical substation.
The project is part of the Saudi government’s program to promote private participation in the country’s water sector. The developer consortium consists of ACWA Power, Gulf Investment Corporation and Al Bawani Water & Power Company. Desalinated water will be supplied to the state-owned Saudi Water Partnership Company, promoter of this project.
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Jubail’s will be Abengoa’s third desalination plant to be built in Saudi Arabia and the seventh in the Middle East. With it, it consolidates its leadership position in the desalination sector worldwide, with an installed capacity of 1.7 million m 3 / day, which will expand to 4.3 million when the portfolio in execution is completed.
In the Middle East, Abengoa is currently building the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant, located in the Taweelah power and water generation complex, with a production capacity of 909,000 m 3 / day, and the desalination plant in the Emirates Global Aluminiun (EGA) of more than 41,000 m 3 / day, both in the United Arab Emirates, as well as the 600,000 m Rabigh III desalination plants3 / day also in Saudi Arabia and the 114,000 m 3 / day Salalah desalination plant in Oman.
