PALM DESERT, Calif., April 17, 2001 - USFilter announced today it was awarded a contract to provide the zero liquid discharge water and wastewater treatment system for Constellation Energy Group's new High Desert Power Project in Victorville, Calif. The 750-megawatt plant will be the first new major power plant to serve the Southern California area in more than a decade.
USFilter will provide a wide range of integrated technologies to meet the entire scope of water treatment needs for the power plant. Reliable and effective treatment of process water is a critical aspect of operating any power plant and is essential for maintaining power production.
Vital to successful operation of the downstream systems, USFilter will provide a state-of-the-art pretreatment system. Primary water source for the plant will be State Project Water (SPW) supplied by the Mohave Water Agency (MWA). A portion of the SPW water will be treated to state water quality standards and injected into the local aquifer to be used as a back up water supply. The integrated technologies will provide clarification, media filtration, membrane concentration, chemical disinfection and sludge dewatering to meet the requisite capacity and requirements of the power facility and the aquifer banking system.
For treatment of cooling tower blowdown, USFilter will supply softening micofiltration, followed by high recovery reverse osmosis for pre-concentration of the blowdown. Finally, the blowdown will be treated to a dry solid in a crystallization system to achieve the zero liquid discharge objectives. USFilter will also supply a continuous deionization system to supply demineralized water for the power plant and chemical feed systems as required to support the water treatment plant.
"The High Desert Power Project illustrates the level of expertise and breadth of technologies USFilter is able to offer our clients. Not only were we able to offer our project partners a wide range of process options, but we had the expertise to integrate the systems and provide unique solutions to meet the complex requirements critical to the success of this project," said Frank Firsching, president and chief operating officer of USFilter's Systems Group.
Commercial operation of the High Desert Power Plant is scheduled for July 2003.
High Desert Power Project's parent company, Constellation Energy Group is a holding company with energy-related businesses. It includes the nation's oldest utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, which provides service to more than 1.1 million electric customers and nearly 600,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland.
USFilter partners on this project with Kiewit Industrial Company, one of the nation's most experienced power plant construction companies. Bibb and Associates of Kansas City, Kan. will design the project. For the water treatment component of the project, USFilter will perform process design, engineering, fabrication and supply more than 10 integrated water treatment technologies, which include brands such as Actiflo(r) clarifiers, CenTROL(r) media filtration, CDI(r) deionization, Memtek(r) microfiltration systems, HPD zero liquid discharge system, J-Press(r) dewatering systems and chemical feed systems from USFilter's Zimpro and Stranco product lines.
USFilter is a Vivendi Water company, the leading global provider of commercial, industrial, municipal and residential water and wastewater treatment systems, products and services, with operations in more than 100 countries. Together, Vivendi Water, Onyx (solid waste and industrial services), Dalkia (energy management), and Connex (transportation and logistics) comprise Vivendi Environment, the largest environmental services company in the world with annual revenues of more than $23 billion. USFilter invites you to visit its web site at http://www.usfilter.com.
