Aqualia awarded desalination contract in Chile

(17/12/2010)

Spanish water management company Aqualia has won its first contract in Chile. The contract, worth US$21 million dollars (almost 17 million euro), includes the development of a desalination plant as well as the supply, installation and commissioning of its electromechanical equipment. The plant will supply industrial water to the Candelaria mine facilities in the arid northern Chile area.

The desalination plant, commissioned by Minera Candelaria (a company owned 80% by US company Freeport and 20% by Japan's Sumitomo), will have a production capacity of 30 million litres/day. Aqualia will equip the desalination plant with cutting-edge seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) technology.

With this contract, Aqualia now operates in 15 countries, reinforcing its international presence in line with FCC Group's strategy, which has made it one of the world's leading water companies, and currently the world’s fourth largest.

Aqualia is the water subsidiary of Spanish-domiciled Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), one of Europe's leading environmental services and infrastructure companies.

Aqualia builds and operates desalination plants using innovative reverse osmosis technology. Key projects in Spain: Almeria (seawater); Alicante (brackish water), Catalonia (seawater, with a production capacity of 56,000 m3/day), Ibiza and Gran Canaries.

Aqualia also has desalination plants under construction in Algeria. The Mostaganem plant will have a capacity of 200,000 m3/day, making it the largest plant in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.

Related categories:  Water conservation and supply