TALKING BIG

• From: Vol 8, Issue 5 (May 2007)
• Category: Need to know
• Region: Unspecified
• Country: China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
• Related Companies: ACWA Power, Al Bayan, Alfanar Construction, Aqualyng, Bin Jarallah Group, Doosan, Fisia Italimpianti, GE, Global Resources Corporation, IDE Technologies, International Power, Khanjee Holding, Marubeni, Mase Telepower, Sidem, Suez and UKR Product Group

* The real winner is Pakistan this month was Aqualyng, the Norwegian desalination plant builder, which signed a memorandum of understanding for a 94,625m³/d RO plant at Korangi.

The project is bigger than anything the company has previously attempted by a factor of ten. Great work!

* On the subject of big, Saudi Arabia’s Water and Electricity Company published the list of 23 developers submitting statements of qualification for the 1,000,000m³/d Ras Azzour independent power and water project (see Desalination Tracker). All the well-known names are there (International Power, Suez Energy International, Marubeni, ACWA Power), as well as some new ones. These include local contractors Al Bayan, Bin Jarallah, and Alfanar Construction (which is working with US-based power
developer Khanjee Holdings); power and telecoms consultants Mase Telepower and unknowns Global Resources Corporation and UKR Product Group. There is clearly going to be a shake-out. With only three
credible EPC contractors ready to deliver on the water side (Doosan, Fisia and Sidem), the field will have to narrow down to three bidding consortia before too long.

* The Ras Azzour project will not hold the record for the largest desalination project in the world for very long, if the Chinese have anything to do with it. The Caofeidian Industrial District in Hebei province is proposing a 1.4million m³/d hybrid membrane/thermal desalination plant to supply Beijing and local industries (see story p30). The brine will be used to make 7.28 tonnes of raw salt a year, which will be used in the chemical industry.

* This concept of using desalination to make salt for the chemical industry seems to be taking off. GE is moving ahead with a similar project (albeit on a much smaller scale), in South Africa (see Desalination Tracker).

* It looks as if Israel is moving towards a third 274,000m³/d desalination project, after the success of the Ashkelon and Hadera tenders, and the failure of the smaller projects at Shomrat and Haifa (see story p24). Let’s see if someone can provide some serious competition for IDE this time.