Acciona consortium wins $692m Jubail 3 desal plant contract
OIL AND GAS NEWS
Spanish infrastructure major Acciona has announced that its consortium, comprising French utility group Engie and Saudi firms Nesma and Ajlan, has secured the EPC contract for the $692 million Jubail 3B desalination project, its sixth in the kingdom.
Together with its partner SepcoIII, Acciona said it will undertake the construction of the 570,000-cu-m-day capacity plant that will cater to 2 million people in the cities of Riyadh and Qassim.
As per the deal signed with Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), Acciona along with its partner are the main EPC contractors for the project.
The Spanish group will undertake the construction of the entire reverse osmosis system, including the civil works and the pumping of raw water.
The project will include storage tanks for daily production, as well as a solar energy plant to reduce the consumption of power from the grid. To do this, Acciona will also build a photovoltaic solar plant.
The EPC contract will also include the construction of 58 km of power lines, an electricity substation and the associated marine works, said the statement from Acciona.
The plant will be located in the industrial city of Jubail on the Arabian Gulf coast in eastern Saudi Arabia, around 100 km from Dammam.
Acciona had previously built the Jubail RO4 desalination plant (capacity 100,000 cu m/day) on the same site.
The entry into service of the plant is planned for Q1 2024, and it will be handed over under a 25-year BOO (Build-Own-Operate) agreement.
Once the Jubail 3 project gets completed, Acciona will supply around 2.37 million cu m/day of desalinated water using reverse osmosis, consolidating it as the most efficient and sustainable desalination technology with the smallest carbon footprint.
Thanks to this contract, the Spanish group has consolidated itself as one of the main water treatment infrastructure companies in the region with the highest water stress on the planet, the Middle East, and more specifically Saudi Arabia. This is its sixth project in Saudi Arabia.
A few months ago the state-owned Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) had awarded Acciona and its partner RTCC the design and construction of the Shuqaiq 1 desalination plant for $384 million.
The plant, with a daily capacity of 400,000 cu m, will help to improve drinking water supplies and offset the water shortages suffered by people living in south-western Saudi Arabia, providing a new source of drinking water for domestic, urban, agricultural and industrial use.
Last year, a 25-year, €530-million contract was awarded for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Shuqaiq3 desalination plant in the same area.
It is currently under construction and is expected to enter service sometime this year with a treatment capacity of 450,000 m3/day, providing a service to serve a population equivalent of two million. It will also have a photovoltaic plant to reduce specific energy consumption.-TradeArabia News Service
