Abengoa (MCE: ABG/P:SM), the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructures, energy and water sectors, in consortium with SIDEM, of the Veolia group, and SepcoIII, has been selected by Acwa Power, a company leader in the development, investment, ownership and operation of energy generation and desalinated water, to construct a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Rabigh, located in the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, at 150 km north of Jedah.
The project is part of the Saudi government's program for the promotion of private participation in the country's water sector.
The consortium will be responsible for the engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of a desalination plant with reverse osmosis technology for Acwa Power, which promotes, develops and will own the project. The desalinated water will be supplied to the state company Water and Electricity Company (WEC).
For Abengoa, the Rabigh plant, with a capacity of 600,000 m3/day, will be the largest desalination plant built to date and the largest in the country with reverse osmosis technology. The scope of the project includes the collection of seawater, pumping, pretreatment, reverse osmosis treatment with energy recovery system, post-treatment, effluent treatment system and discharge through outfall, as well as the associated electrical installations that comprise the construction of a 380/110 kV substation.
This desalination plant will ensure the supply of drinking water to the cities of Makkah Al-Mokarramah, Jeddah and Mastorah, which will provide this resource to approximately three million people.
With this new contract, Abengoa is consolidated as a leading company in the desalination sector worldwide, with an installed capacity of 1.5 million m3/d, which will be expanded to 2.8 million when the portfolio in execution is completed. In addition, Abengoa strengthens its presence in the Middle East, where it is currently executing the Shuaibah III desalination plant in Saudi Arabia, of 250,000 m3/d, and the Salalah desalination plant in Oman, of 114,000 m3/d.
