Al Khobar 2 desalination plant ramps to full production says ACCIONA
The firm says it has earned a reputation for delivering desalination solutions using RO technology that emits 6.5 times fewer GHGs than thermal desalination
ACCIONA has revealed that it has ramped up to full production of water during the final testing of the Al Khobar 2 desalination plant. The infrastructure major said that the plant can produce 630,000cu/m of potable water per day, which is enough to meet the requirements of three million people.
The plant is said to be equipped with energy-efficient Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) technology, and is billed as a key project in the modernisation of Saudi Arabia’s water sector. The facility will be equipped with reverse osmosis (RO) technology and its daily capacity of more than 630,000cu/m per day, makes it one of the biggest in the country, and the largest RO plant under EPC scheme awarded in a single shot in KSA, ACCIONA revealed.
“This milestone is the result of good teamwork between the client, our engineers and the construction teams. Now that we are entering the final testing and commissioning stages, we will undertake several tests to make sure everything works perfectly. We are proud to have reached this milestone at Al Khobar 2. It proves ACCIONA’s commitment to delivering good work to our clients on time, and of our ability to meet the goals of our clients and of local authorities,” said Javier Nieto, KSA Country Director for ACCIONA’s water business.
The new desalination plant is already supplying the water network for Khobar, and is said to be one of the largest to be built in the Kingdom, and the largest RO desalination plant built by ACCIONA worldwide.
In late September 2022, Qatar’s Umm Al Houl desalination plant said it achieved one millions hours without accident and, in early December 2022, Voltas said it was delivering HVAC services for the Jubail 3B IWP in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi publicly-owned company Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) awarded ACCIONA and its partner RTCC the construction of the Al Khobar 2 desalination plant in 2020.
In a region with acute water scarcity, the demand for desalinated water is being driven by climate change and population growth. Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 35m, is the world’s third largest per capita consumer of water after the United States and Canada. The Kingdom has set a national program for rationalising water consumption, setting ambitious targets that include slashing usage by nearly 43% by 2030. The targets form part of the Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive Vision 2030 social and economic development plan, ACCIONA explained.
It stated that it has five large desalination plants and three large sewage treatment plants under construction in the Kingdom.
In late January 2023, SWPC said it had issued RFQs to 35 companies for the Jubail 4 & 6 IWPs.
