Acciona Is Building The Third Desalination Plant In Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabia state-owned company called Water and Electricity Company LLC (WEC) in charge of desalination and water treatment projects, has awarded ACCIONA a Spanish company loan with its consortium partners Marubeni Corporation, Abdul Latif Jameel-CDC and Rawafid Alhadarah Holding Co. the contract. They are going to finance, redesign and build the new Shuqaiq 3 desalination plant, operate and maintain it for 25 years.

ACCIONA Agua’s biggest project in Saudi Arabia will be implemented under the build, own and operate (BOO) contract for a total of 750 million euros.

ACCIONA Agua will be involved in the project structure as an investor, sole EPC (turnkey) contractor, and leading and majority partner in operation and maintenance.

With its considerable experience in major desalination projects worldwide, ACCIONA was chosen due to price offered to desalinated water price of $0.52 USD per cubic meter. They are among the most competitive rates anywhere in the world.

The plant is located on the shores of the Red Sea, and schedule to be completed in 2021, Shuqaiq 3 will be one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest desalination plants, using inverse osmosis technology and with a capacity to process 450,000 cubic meters per day to supply 2 million people. It will also include a solar photovoltaic facility to reduce its specific power consumption.

This project is part of Saudi Arabian’s plan to transform and modernize its water industry by renovating its fresh water production facilities, adapting them to modern international quality and efficiency standards.

This is ACCIONA’s third desalination plant in Saudi Arabia, enabling the company to provide some 3 million people with water.

In July 2018, ACCIONA Agua won the contract to build the Al–Khobar 1 desalination plant, in Al-Khobar, on the country’s east coast, about 400 kilometers from Riyadh. This turnkey project, with a one-year warranty, is valued at more than 200 million euros and is the first project of this kind to be commissioned by government corporation Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) from a Spanish company. The facility will have a capacity of almost cubic meters per day, to serve a population of 350,000. The plant will also supply water to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.

In 2012 ACCIONA was awarded the contract to design, build and commission the Al Jubail seawater desalination plant, which since 2015 serves both the city and the industrial complex in the country’s Eastern Province, on the Persian Gulf coast.