Abengoa, the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructures, energy and water sectors, has inaugurated together with its partner Fisia Italiampianti a reverse osmosis desalination plant in the Shuaibah complex, in Saudi Arabia. The Project is the largest desalination plant built by Abengoa to date, with a capacity of 250,000 m3/day. In addition, the Project has already produced 20 million cubic meters of desalinated water since the successful completion of the tests required for the Project.
Abengoa and Fisia Italiampianti were responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the Project. Saudi Water Partnership Company (“SWPC”) are acting as the offtaker for the project, while ACWA Power is the owner and operator of the Project.
In the presence of the Governor of Makkah Province, HRH Prince Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud and of His Excellency Abdurrahman Al-Fadli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and Chairman of SWPC, the inauguration ceremony was attended on behalf of Abengoa by the CEO of the company, Joaquín Fernández de Piérola, and the head of Middle East, Antonio Moreno.
As pointed out by the CEO of Abengoa, “The desalination plant of Shuaibah has entered into commercial operation 21 months after the start of the construction works, meeting the deadline committed by the construction consortium which, given the characteristics and size of this plant, has been a challenge for Abengoa that has been achieved thanks to the good work and experience of the whole team involved in the project. This new success reinforces our wide experience in the desalination sector and our good performance in the execution of large projects around the world”. In addition, Fernández de Piérola wanted to emphasize that during the construction, the project exceeded 4.6 million hours without lost time work accidents meeting the objectives in terms of safety and health.
With the completion of this project, Abengoa consolidates itself as a key company in the desalination sector in the world with a total installed capacity of more than 1.7 million m3/day that will increase to 3.7 when the portfolio under construction is completed. Abengoa is currently executing 2 million m3/day in desalination plants around the world, among which we can find the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, of 909,000 m3/day, in the Taweelah energy and water generation complex, as well as the desalination plant for the industrial complex of Emirates Global Aluminiun (EGA), which will produce more than 41,000 m3/day of drinking water and water for industrial use. In Saudi Arabia, the company continues the works of the Rabigh III desalination plant, of 600,000 m3/day, and in Oman with the Salalah desalination plant, of 114,000, and in Morocco with the Agadir Chtouka desalination plant, of 275,000 m3/day of capacity.
