Global Water Intelligence has the international desalination market covered. Since November 2003 we have been tracking the most important desalination projects globally (100+ projects) in our quarterly Desalination Project Tracker. This provides need-to-know information on each project in a user-friendly format: we tell you the plant capacity, the client, the contact with telephone number, the cost, the project`s structure and a paragraph on its status. We also award marks out of five for `Progress` and marks out of ten on each project`s `Reality Rating`.
We have just brought out a stand-alone 300pp market report entitled: `Desalination Markets 2005-2015: A Global Assessment & Forecast`.
Since 1965 we are first and only weekly news service covering world desalination market. Its growth continues unabated. Wangnick Desalination Plant Inventory says total installed capacity is 7.2 billion GPD in 10,350 plants.
Major business happening of 2004 was General Electric purchase of Ionics for $1.1 billion, edging Siemens acquisition of U.S. Filter co.`s for $983 million, sequel of sorts to USF`s build-up and its 1999 sale to Vivendi for $6.2 billion.
Part of desal advance has been rocky. Bellwether 25 MGD Tampa Bay seawater RO plant`s initially estimated $1.71/1000 gal. water cost increased to $2.54/1000 gal., once repaired and placed in operation in October 2007. Tampa Bay troubles, closely watched by proposed plant developers in California, Texas and elsewhere, may have dampened some projects it helped spawn.
Other large projects under construction maintain original water cost estimates, for example, 72 MGD Ashkelon, Israel, SWRO plant`s $0.53 cu.m ($2.00/1000 gal) expected to begin operations early this yr.; 36 MGD Singapore SWRO, $0.45 cu.m ($1.70/1000 gal) to be completed by end of 2005. Other recent stories:
- Buying Ecolochem for $345 million, Ionics in turn bought by GE
- J.F. Shea starts $292 million MF/RO/UV Groundwater Replenishment System AWT facility
- Orange County, CA, Water District finds seawater desalination too expensive
- 26 MGD Tianjin, China, SWRO plant to Hyflux
- Fichtner/GHD awarded Sydney, Australia, desal feasibility/planning study
The 2004 IDA Worldwide Desalination Plants Inventory Report
For the first time the complete listing of the global installed base of desalination plants is available in Excel spreadsheet format. Download it today and you can manipulate data on 10,350 desalination plants in more than 140 countries
Desalination Plant of the Year
Shuweihat - CMS/International Power: Abu Dhabi`s $1.6 billion Shuweihat S1 facility consists of five Siemens V94.3A2 gas turbines. Each gas turbine exhausts into a dual pressure heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The five HRSGs supply steam to a common HP header, which feeds two 250MW back-pressure steam turbines. The steam turbines exhaust steam into an LP header. The LP steam is used to heat seawater in the MSF brine heaters. The desalination plant consists of six MSF units, each designed to produce 16.6MIGD gross water output. Testing carried out in 2004 demonstrated that all six distillers have exceeded this rating.
The first gas turbine was synchronised on 12 August 2003. Distillate from the first desalination unit was produced on 30 December 2003, just 21 months after the start of site works. Commercial operation of the last of the six desalination units was achieved on 12 October 2004. ADWEA has a 60% ownership stake in the plant, with the remaining ownership amount shared equally between CMS Energy and International Power, who formed the Shuweihat CMS International Power Company.
The Judges` Verdict
The 16.6MIGD Fisia MSF units are an awesome feat of engineering, which show that MSF technology is ready for the next generation of IWPPs in the Gulf.
