ACWA Power has signed Abengoa in consortium with Fisia Italimpianti to develop a large scale reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant at Shoaiba III power and desalination complex on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
The 250,000 m3/d RO plant will be Abengoa’s largest desalination project to date. Abengoa and Fisia Italimpianti will provide project engineering, supply, and construction.
The value of the project is estimated at €240 million ($257 million).
The ACWA Power project is to supply potable water to Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), Saudi Arabia’s national water agency. SWCC aims to increase desalination capacity in the country by 43 per cent, from 5.1 m3/d today, to 7.3 million m3/d by 2020.
The project will transform Shoaiba III into the world’s largest desalination complex, supplying cities Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, and Al-Baha.
The new RO capacity adds to 150,000 m3/d of existing RO-produced water, and 850,000 m3/d of multi-stage flash (MSF) capacity, currently in operation at the site.
It will be the second expansion at Shoaiba III: In 2009, RO technology was introduced for the first time.