PARIS, March 15, 2007 -- Veolia Water and a group of Spanish companies have won a contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a seawater desalination plant using reverse osmosis. The plant will be located at Campo de Dalías in the province of Almeria in southern Spain.
The Campos de Dalías project is part of the national desalination plant program launched by the Spanish Ministry for the Environment through Acuamed, the public water agency responsible for the development of the plan. The contract covers the construction of the desalination plant, followed by its operation for 15 years. It has a total value of around EUR 128 million, of which consolidated revenue for Veolia Water is estimated at EUR 78 million.
Within the consortium, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies will be in charge of the process components, and Spanish companies Sando, Inypsa and Montajes Electricos Crescencio Perez will be responsible for the construction, civil engineering and management components. On completion, Veolia Water will operate the plant.
The water produced will be used for mixed usage: drinking and irrigation. The plant will have a daily capacity of 80,000 cubic meters of drinking water, (with a total of 30 million cubic meters/year), upon delivery, which is scheduled for the summer of 2009. Campo de Dalías will be the fourth biggest seawater desalination unit in Spain.
Veolia Water already has three major references: Ashkelon in Israel, (230,000 cubic meters/day), the world's biggest reverse osmosis desalination plant, which has been in operation since September 2005; Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia (delivery end-2008, 125,000 cubic meters/day), and Sur in Oman (delivery early 2009, 80,000 cubic meters/day).
To reduce electricity consumption, Veolia Water will use the latest Isobar energy recovery technologies. These were previously selected and implemented by the company at the Ashkelon plant. In addition, solar panels will be fitted on the buildings. Together, these will meet the plant's power needs for everything except the desalination process.
"The contract won by Veolia Water at Campo de Dalías in Spain is just one in a significant program launched by the Spanish government to build seawater desalination plants to combat water shortages and drought conditions in the southeast of the country. This success confirms the company's expertise in seawater desalination where it holds a leading position in both membrane and thermal processes," said Antoine Frérot, CEO of Veolia Water.
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