EPC Abengoa is to use PX® technology from Energy Recovery Inc. in two desalination plants in Ghana and Oman.
Energy Recovery adds that both of these arid countries are home to growing populations with limited access to fresh water resources. The PX Pressure Exchanger® will save more than 52 million kilowatt hours (kWh) per year in each country.
Sustainable solutions developer Abengoa Water will construct a desalination plant in Nungua, Ghana – the first in the country’s history – for the Ghana Water Limited Company and an expansion in Barka, Oman for the owners of the Barka I Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP). According to George Kotsovos, Standard Bank’s head of power and infrastructure finance, the Nungua desalination plant is an important project for Ghana, providing 400,000 people with fresh drinking water.
As water resources becoming increasingly scarce, governments are under increased pressure to create more efficient infrastructure.
Energy Recovery adds that the PX Pressure Exchanger® device offers efficiencies of up to 97.2% and 12 billion kWh in energy savings worth $1.2 billion in cost savings per year.
In Ghana, this will be the first desalination plant in the country. Abengoa will build and operate the plant for 25 years in the town of Nungua, in south-eastern Ghana, about ten miles from the capital city of Accra. The plant will produce 60,000 cubic metres of water daily. According to the Ghanaian government, this newly flowing water will go to the rapidly expanding capital city of Accra and surrounding areas where residents have historically travelled long distances in search of water.
The Barka Oman expansion is the first mega project in the country employing PX Pressure Exchanger® technology. The project is a 45,460 cubic metres of water per day expansion to provide 225,000 local inhabitants with fresh drinking water. The plant will now have a total capacity of 136,380 cubic metres per day, a move that will help solve the country’s water shortage.
Abengoa Water and Energy Recovery have completed nine large desalination projects together over the last decade. Together these two projects are providing 625,000 people with fresh drinking water in critical regions looking to desalination as a viable solution to their limited water supply.
Unique to the Barka project and a growing trend in desalination financing is the Independent Water & Power Project (IWPP). The IWPP model is gaining traction in the Middle East and North Africa as greater water shortages are affecting the region. The combination of power and water production gives the best economic performance, which is why IWPP is used in Oman and widely in the Middle East.
For many countries, pay-as-you-go is a more affordable option, and external financing does offer a guaranteed solution to a country that must produce its potable water resources.
Already experiencing a successful implementation, the plant is now planning for a Barka II expansion. Devices for the Barka project shipped in the fourth quarter of 2012, whereas we expect delivery of devices for the Ghana project to occur in the second quarter of 2013.
