The US$ 200 million expansion project for the Furjairah 1 Independent Water & Power Plant (IWPP) in the UAE broke ground on 30 June 2013.
The Sembcorp Industries project will increase the plant’s seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination capacity by 30 MIGD (136,000 m³/d).
The expansion, expected to be completed in the first half of 2015, will enhance Sembcorp’s total seawater desalination capacity in the UAE from 100 MIGD (455,000 m³/d) to 130 MIGD (591,000 m³/d), of which 67.5 MIGD (307,000 m³/d) will be produced using RO. The remaining 62.5 MiGD (284,000 m³/d) is produced using multi-stage flash technology.
The combined RO desalination capacity will make the Fujairah 1 IWPP the largest RO desalination facility in the Middle East.
The 30 MIGD water output from the expansion will be sold to the Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (ADWEC) under a 20‑year water purchase agreement, signed in January 2013. This is in addition to the existing 22‑year power and water purchase agreement with ADWEC for the plant’s current water and electricity output.
Tang Kin Fei, group president and CEO of Sembcorp, said, “Our plant, strategically located in Fujairah, will enable us to produce desalinated water more economically for our customer. The expansion project also enables the use of uncontracted surplus power from the existing plant, hence allowing excess generation capacity to be gainfully utilised to produce the additional water at a competitive cost and enhance our income at the same time.”