Voltas has said that its International Operations Business Group has won a new project in Saudi Arabia to provide heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) services for buildings connected to the Jubail 3B Independent Water Project (IWP).
In a statement, Voltas said the project is part of the Jubail Desalination Plant that produces 1.401m cu/m of water a day. Of this, the share of J3B will be 0.57m cu/m per day. It added that the project has been awarded to its fully owned subsidiary Saudi Ensas Engineering Services Company.
The project scope involves HVAC works including electrical and control works for the buildings of the Jubail 3B project. In addition, Voltas will be in charge of building the electrical and control works for the building along with providing their energy-efficient HVAC systems.
In June 2021, Voltas said it had commissioned its first solar project in Dubai for SirajPower.
On the project win, Managing Director & CEO Pradeep Bakshi said, “Voltas is delighted to be a part of the IWP project in Jubail. It has served Middle East Asia – predominantly the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – for over 40 years. Today, Voltas is the leading MEP services provider in the region, felicitated with several awards for its quality, capability and safety records. With this new project, we believe that we will provide vast opportunities for further developments and collaboration for our IOBG division.”
Jubail is said to be one of the seven water projects that ACCIONA is undertaking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Construction began in June 2022 in partnership with SEPCOIII. The plant is being developed and financed by a consortium of three companies: ENGIE, NESMA, and AJLAN for the Saudi Water Partnership Company. ACCIONA has also completed two desalination facilities at Jubail and Shuqaiq.
Jubail 3B will draw some of its power from a dedicated 61MW-peak photovoltaic facility, which will also be built by ACCIONA. This will be the largest in-house solar plant for a desalination plant in the KSA. It will both reduce the emissions associated with desalination and relieve power demand from the national grid.
In July 2022, Varun Malhotra, Senior Consultant at Cundall said that as the world is accelerating the transition to Net Zero, sustainability has also been the driving force in the HVAC industry.
The project also includes storage tanks, an electricity substation, a 59km overhead transmission line, and associated marine works.
Once completed, the desalination facilities will be able to supply water to 8.3m people, or nearly a quarter of the nation’s population. The plants will use reverse osmosis technology, making them more effective than traditional thermal desalination, while using less energy, and consequently having a lower carbon footprint. The project is valued US $5.1mn and will be completed within a year.
In November 2022, Engie and HIWPT launched a desalination training program exclusively for Saudi women.