The consortium of Abengoa and Fisia Italiampianti had won the contract for the desalination plant in 2017
Image: Interior of the Brownsville Desalination Plant, USA. Photo: Courtesy of Abengoa.
Abengoa and its partner Fisia Italiampianti have inaugurated a reverse osmosis desalination plant in the Shuaibah complex in the Makkah region, Saudi Arabia.
Claimed to be the largest desalination plant built by Abengoa, the desalination plant has capacity of processing 250,000 m³/day of water.
Abengoa and Fisia Italiampianti shouldered the responsibility of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the project. Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) is the offtaker for the project, while ACWA Power is the owner and operator of the Project.
Abengoa CEO Joaquín Fernández de Piérola said: “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.”
Abengoa and Fisia Italiampianti won EPC contract for the project in 2017
The consortium of Abengoa and Fisia Italiampianti had won the contract to develop the desalination plant from ACWA Power back in April 2017. The total value of the project was €240m (£216.5m).
The plant is claimed to have already produced 20 million cubic metres of desalinated water since the completion of the tests needed for the project.
With the project’s completion, Abengoa claims to have consolidated itself as a key company in desalination sector in the world, with a total installed capacity of over 1.7 million m³/day that could increase to 3.7 m³/day when the portfolio under construction is completed.
Presently, Abengoa is executing a 2 million m³/day in desalination plants around the world, among which, the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, with 909,000 m³/day, in the Taweelah energy and water generation complex, along with desalination plant for the industrial complex of Emirates Global Aluminiun (EGA), producing more than 41,000 m³/day of drinking water and water for industrial use, are present.
The company continues with its work at the Rabigh III desalination plant In Saudi Arabia, which will have a capacity of 600,000m³/day and in Oman with the Salalah desalination plant, of 114,000 and in Morocco with the Agadir Chtouka desalination plant, of 275,000m³/day of capacity.