Capital costs of Australian desalination plants are rising - CHART

• From: Vol 10, Issue 9 (September 2009)
• Category: Analysis
• Region: Asia
• Country: Australia

This month’s chart shows the rising capital costs involved in building large-scale desalination plants in Australia.

Desperation in the face of drought has forced authorities to pay crisis prices, passing the costs on to consumers through higher water bills. To make these more palatable, state governments have sought to use renewable energy to power the plants, and to minimise their impact on the surrounding landscape. This can bump up the cost of intakes and outfalls, which ...