Only days after news emerged from Abu Dhabi that it plans to continue developing the world’s first full scale solar desalination plant, a new contract has been signed in Saudi Arabia.
Spanish company Abengoa will work with Advanced Water Technology (AWT) to jointly develop a 60,000 m3/day solar powered desalination plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
The plant will produce drinking water for Al Khafji City in North Eastern Saudi Arabia.
AWT is a newly formed water solutions company based in Riyadh, as the commercial arm of KACST (King Abdulaziz City Science and Technology) and is owned by Taqnia, a technology investment company.
In a statement, Abengoa said a pre-treatment phase will “reduce the high level of salinity and the oils and fats that are present in the region’s seawater”.
The Al Khafji 60,000 m3/day project will bring Abengoa’s total desalination capacity to nearly 1,500,000 m3/day.
Included in this is the 60,000 m3/day desalination project in Ghana, Africa, which local reports have suggested is now complete (see Desalinate newscast).
Earlier this week France’s SUEZ Environment further developed a contract signed in Abu Dhabi to develop a 100% solar powered desalination plant (see WWi story).
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