Saudia Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz pressed a button on 29 April 2009 to start water production at the 800,000 m³/d Jubail II desalination plant, part of the world’s largest independent water and power project (IWPP).
The 23-year build-own-operate-transfer IWPP is being carried out by a consortium of Suez Energy and ACWA under a US$ 3.4 billion contract. The desalination EPC is Veolia subsidiary Sidem, which has employed multiple-effect desalination (MED) technology on a larger scale than ever used previously.
Working off waste heat from the power station, the US$ 975 million MED plant has 27 units, each with a capacity of 29,630 m³/d, plus a remineralization plant. The plant will provide desalinated water to the eastern cities of the region.