Abengoa, a Spanish energy company, along with its consortium partners SepcoIII (Power China) and Sidem (Veolia), has handed over the Rabigh 3 Independent Water Plant (IWP) to the Saudi Arabia-based power plant developer, ACWA Power.
The consortium achieved the Project Taking Over Certificate for ACWA Power’s 600,000 cubic meter/day reverse osmosis desalination plant, which is the world’s largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in commercial operation.
The desalination plant has passed the start-up phase and is already supplying water to the Saudi Water Partnership Company’s (SWPC) network at full capacity. The contract for the project’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) was granted to a consortium led by Abengoa in 2018.
The Rabigh 3 desalination plant ensures the supply of drinking water to more than three million people in the cities of Makkah, Al-Mokarramah, Jeddah and Mastorah. It is an important reference in the desalination sector worldwide not only because of its size but also because it is an example of efficiency, innovation and sustainability in its design and construction, which allows it to reduce energy consumption and increase the plant’s availability.
As of now, the Rabigh 3 project has exceeded for more than six million hours without a lost-time accident, achieving the highest levels of occupational risk prevention standards and meeting the required health and safety goals.
Abengoa, a leader in the international desalination market, currently has five plants under construction and a total installed capacity of 2.4 million cubic meter/day, spread over more than 30 desalination plants in 13 countries, which will be increased to 4.3 million when the portfolio under execution is completed.
