Acciona has achieved a key milestone in the construction of two of its main projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jubail 3B and Shuqaiq 4 desalination plants, ramping up production during final testing to full capacity of 575,000 m³ of potable water per day and 400,000 m3/day respectively, enough to meet the needs of more than 5.5 million people between both utilities.
Shuqaiq 4 will help to improve the supply of drinking water and offset water shortages to 3.5 million of citizen in the South-West of Saudi Arabia by providing a new source of potable water. While Jubail 3B desalination plant will supply two million people in the cities of Riyadh and Qassim once commercially operational in 2024.
Both plants are equipped with energy-efficient Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) technology and are a key project in the modernization of Saudi Arabia’s water sector.
These facilities, together with the rest of the projects that ACCIONA currently has under construction in the Kingdom, bring the total capacity of desalinated water to 2,300.000 m3 per day, that is, to supply drinking water for nine million people, which represents 25% of the country’s population.
Javier Nieto, KSA Country Director for the Water business, said: “This milestone is the result of good teamwork between the client, our engineers and the construction teams. Now that we are entering the final testing and commissioning stages, we will undertake several tests to make sure everything works perfectly. We are so proud to have reached this milestone at Shuqaiq 4 and Jubail 3B. It proves Acciona’s commitment to delivering good work to our clients on time and of our ability to meet the goals of our clients and of local authorities”.
The Saudi publicly-owned company Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) awarded Acciona and its partners the construction of the Shuqaiq 4 and Jubail 3B desalination plants in 2021.
In a region with acute water scarcity, demand for desalinated water is being driven by climate change and population growth. Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 37 million, is the world’s third largest per capita consumer of water after the United States and Canada. The Kingdom has set a national program for rationalizing water consumption, setting ambitious targets that include slashing usage by nearly 43% by 2030. The targets form part of the Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive Vision 2030 social and economic development plan.
