Energy Recovery announced project awards totaling $20.9 million, including a contract for the 400,000 cubic meters per day (“m3/day”) Al Jubail II Seawater Reverse Osmosis (“SWRO”) facility (“Jubail II”). Jubail II will replace the thermal capacity of the 136,000 m3/day Jubail I thermal desalination facility.
“This project, one of the largest contracts in Company history, is another marker of the strength of our business, even in the toughest of times,” said Robert Mao, Energy Recovery Chairman of the Board and President and CEO. “As the desalination market continues transitioning from thermal to SWRO technology, and as we see projects increasing in size, demand for our technology continues to grow as well.”
Energy Recovery will supply several hundred PX® Pressure Exchanger® devices (“PX”) to Jubail II project developer Metito, a global leader and provider of choice for sustainable water management solutions.
“We needed a partner whose product would further our mission of creating sustainable water solutions – and Energy Recovery checked every box,” said Assem Zakaria, Senior Projects Manager, Metito. “Their PX devices provide the significant energy savings that we needed, as well as the assurance of a long, reliable lifecycle.”
Jubail II is expected to deliver operational cost savings of approximately SAR 5.7 billion (USD $1.5 billion) over the decade following its commissioning compared to the Jubail I project, according to analysis firm Global Water Intelligence. The facility is scheduled to be commissioned in 2021 and will serve the municipal water needs of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
“For more than two decades, our valued customers have trusted us to make SWRO desalination less energy intensive and more economically feasible. As one of the earliest adopters of our technology, our partners Metito are a prime example of our long-lasting and sustained performance in the region,” said Rodney Clemente, Energy Recovery Senior Vice President of Water. “The Jubail II project also underscores that thermal to SWRO replacement projects in the Middle East are often not a one-for-one capacity replacement. These large SWRO plants are typically larger than the thermal plants they replace, bringing online additional new capacity to keep pace with growing water demand.”