Abengoa SA (ABG), a Spanish energy and environment company, will develop the world’s largest solar-powered desalination plant in Saudi Arabia with a local water firm.
The $130 million facility at Al Khafji City in the desert kingdom’s northeast will desalinate 60,000 cubic meters of seawater each day, ensuring a stable supply of drinking water throughout the year, Abengoa said today in a statement. It will build the project in partnership with Advanced Water Technology, a new unit of state-owned technology company Taqnia.
The facility would be the first large-scale desalination plant to be powered by solar energy, according to Seville-based Abengoa. It includes a photovoltaic plant as well as systems to lower power consumption and pre-treat the local seawater.
The works will increase Abengoa’s desalination capacity around the world to almost 1.5 million cubic meters a day, or enough to supply about 8.5 million people. In the Middle East, the company has been awarded other major water projects such as the Barka desalination plant in Oman as well as solar plants.

Source: Bloomberg