Abengoa (Seville, Spain; www.abengoa.com) has signed contracts to develop a desalination and irrigation project in the Agadir region of Morocco. The project, valued €309 million, involves the construction of a desalination plant with a 275,000-m3 total production capacity of desalinated water per day, which will be the world’s largest plant designed for drinking water and irrigation. The contract also provides for the possible capacity expansion to up to 450,000 m3/day.
This is a single project for the two clients; Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE), the Ministry of Agriculture, Sea Fisheries and Rural Development and the Ministry of Waters and Forests of Morocco, which has been created from the mutualisation of two projects. The first one requires a 50% expansion of production capacity under the contract that Abengoa has been developing for ONEE, thereby increasing plant capacity to 150,000 m3/d of drinking water. And the second project calls for the additional production of 125,000 m3/d of irrigation water as well as the construction of the corresponding irrigation network for a total of 13,600 ha, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The project, which also provides for the option of being operated on wind power, meets the demand of water for domestic use in addition to irrigation water needs in the area of Agadir. At the same time, it will contribute to the development of the main economic drivers, the agricultural and tourism sectors, and the conservation of the aquifers in the area, therefore preventing their over-exploitation.
As specified in the terms of the original contract, Abengoa will continue to undertake the engineering, construction and operation and maintenance for a period of 27 years. Abengoa and the Moroccan company InfraMaroc will be investment partners and responsible for the project financing.
For more on desalination, read:
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