Acciona begins 25-year O&M contract at SWPC’s Shuqaiq 3 desalination plant
IWP will use SWRO technology to provide water to some two million people in the Asir and Jizan regions of Saudi Arabia
Acciona has begun operations and maintenance of Saudi Water Partnership Company’s (SWPC) Shuqaiq 3 desalination plant, which is said to be one of the largest in the Kingdom.
In a statement, Acciona said that the O&M contract has been awarded for 25 years. It added that the Independent Water Project (IWP) uses Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) technology, which is more energy efficient than conventional thermal desalination. The technology emits 6.5 times fewer greenhouse gases than conventional thermal desalination processes.
Shuqaiq 3 is a key project in the modernisation of the water sector that is being carried out by the SWPC. It will provide water to some two million inhabitants of the regions of Asir and Jizan, an extremely dry region near the border with Yemen.
The announcement follows SWPC commemorating the completion of the construction of Shuqaiq 3 with an opening ceremony. This event was attended by H.E. Eng. Khaled Al Qureshi, CEO of SWPC, Fumio Iwai, Japan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as representatives of ACCIONA and Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), both co-developers.
Acciona was the Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contractor for Shuqaiq 3 IWP desalination plant, which will produce 450,000cu/m of potable water per day. The project also includes the EPC of a large Electrical Special Facility (ESF) to feed the plant with power and some other additional installations from the existing power plants in the vicinity, the statement said.
With a population of 33mn, Saudi Arabia is the third largest consumer of water per capita in the world after the United States and Canada.
Acciona is currently building four more desalination plants in the Saudi Arabia. The plants employ reverse osmosis, an efficient and sustainable technology for extracting potable water from seawater. Once all are completed, the company will be producing 2.5mn cu/m of drinking water a day, enough to supply more than eight million people, almost one-quarter of the population of the country.
In recent years, the Kindgom has invested heavily in energy and water infrastructure. In January of this year, Acciona handed over a 450,000cu/m water desalination plant to Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), while, in March, over 60 water projects worth $9.33bn were announced, while in May, an Engie-led consortium broke ground on a sustainable desalination plant.
