It looks as if the forecast June 2012 date for signing the water price agreement for California’s Carlsbad Desalination Project was a little optimistic.
In a report to the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) presented at the authority’s meeting on 24 May 2012, Ken Weinberg, director of water resources, told the authority that during June “additional refinements” would be made to the agreement and key points of negotiation would be addressed.
One of these points concerns the provisions for the acquisition of the project’s assets from developers Poseidon Resources after the tenth year of operation and at the end of the contract term. The methodologies for valuation of those assets and its effect on the price of water are under discussion between the SDCWA negotiators and Poseidon.
Several other issues related to the project also need discussion, including: the proposed 10-km conveyance pipeline; demand projections and project sizing; cost of energy and managing energy price risk.
Weinberg anticipates that the June and July committee meetings of the SDCWA will be devoted to discussion of the project and due diligence issues related to it.
“At least two additional workshops are anticipated to discuss the terms and conditions of a draft Agreement following its public release,” he concludes.
· Time to upgrade Carlsbad to NF-SWRO Hybrid? See the May/June 2012 issue of D&WR – just published – for an article on this topic.