The Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Company (ADWEC) through its joint venture, Emirates Sembcorp Water & Power Company (ESC) has signed a 20-year water purchase agreement with Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp).
ESC is a joint venture between Sembcorp Gulf Holding Co and Union Power Holding Company, subsidiaries of Sembcorp Utilities and the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), respectively.
ESC owns and operates the Fujairah 1 Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP), one of the world’s largest operating hybrid desalination plants, in the UAE. The expansion, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015, will increase the Fujairah 1 IWPP’s seawater desalination capacity by 30 million imperial gallons per day (MiGD). This additional output will be produced using reverse osmosis.
The remaining 62.5 MiGD is produced using multi-stage flash. This combined reverse osmosis desalination capacity is said to make the Fujairah 1 IWPP the largest reverse osmosis desalination facility in the Middle East.
Under the water purchase agreement, the 30 MiGD water output from the expansion will be sold to ADWEC for a period of 20 years, starting from its operational date. This is in addition to the existing 22-year power and water purchase agreement for the current water and 2 electricity output from the Fujairah 1 IWPP to ADWEC. The expansion is expected to cost approximately US$200 million. Sembcorp’s equity investment of US$80 million will be funded through internal resources.
At the same time, a contract has been awarded to Spanish firm Acciona Agua and Acciona Infraestructuras, members of the Acciona Group, to design, build and provide seven years’ operation and maintenance services for the expansion project.
William Chang, executive managing director of ESC, said: “The expansion will also include the installation of a new Dissolved Air Floatation system, which will improve the quality of the seawater feed. This system will enhance the reliability and availability of the reverse osmosis facility.”
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