Acuamed desalination plants to use renewable energy

All the desalination plants owned by Acuamed, the Spanish water supplier, as well as distribution networks and company offices, will be run on renewable energy, the company announced on 22 December 2009.

The board of directors of the state-owned company for the region on the Mediterranean coast awarded the electricity supply contract for all its facilities during 2010 to Iberdrola SA at an estimated cost of € 5.8 million. The company claims a substantial reduction on the tender.

The total contracted power is 40 MW and annual consumption is estimated at 80 GWh.

Emphasis was placed in the tender on the flexibility of demand. This concept, championed by Acuamed in various forums, is the possibility of adapting the desalinated water production to times when the price of energy is less or in certain special circumstances of transmission and distribution.

Existing and forthcoming desalination plants covered by this agreement are Carboneras (Almería), Torrevieja (Alicante), Águilas (Murcia), Bajo Almanzora (Almería) and the denitrification plant at La Eliana (Valencia.