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Mahagenco Turns to Water Reuse in India
Maharashtra State Power Generation Corporation reconfirmed on 18 October 2013 the timeline for completion of a sewage treatment and water reuse plant that will supply cooling and ash handling water to two new 660 MW units at its Koradi coal power station. Mahagenco’s Koradi and Khaperkheda plants are located in Nagpur, northeastern Maharashtra state. The project, now six years under development, will be a first for a thermal power plant in India to rely exclusively on reused water for cooling and ash handling. Mahagenco’s intends to complete trial operations at Koradi by early 2015.
The Totladoh Reservoir, from which the Koradi plant draws cooling water, has a total capacity of 190 million m3, but competing demand from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), and other agricultural and industrial users, has forced Mahagenco to secure alternative water supplies. Koradi consists of seven units, including four decommissioned and three operational units, which total 620 MW of generating capacity. The eighth and ninth units (2 x 660 MW) are planned for commissioning in 2014 according to the utility’s capacity plan, followed by a tenth unit after 2015.
Private Ownership Sparks New Phase of Global Desalination Growth
Private ownership is expected to account for 51 percent of large-scale pipeline development, unlocking greenfield opportunities for companies across the desalination value chain. The global desalinati...Global Desalination Market Trends & Ownership Strategies, 2014-2018
Global desalination report available for online purchase and immediate download.Global Desalination Ownership Leaderboard 2013
Bluefield Research’s Global Desalination Ownership Leaderboard 2013 has been developed within the Global Municipal Water Infrastructure Insight Service that tracks global ownership trends, markets, strategies, and the competitive landscape for global desalination technologies and markets.
The 2013 Leaderboard highlights the largest owners of desalination, their geographic footprints, and year-to-year changes to ownership capacity.
Key building blocks in developing the ranking include:
- Project ownership ranked on net ownership capacity (i.e., % equity held in existing desalination plants multiplied by total system capacity, m3/d).
- Project ownership pipelines by net capacity − desalination plants that are under construction, in planning, or announced.
- The period analyzed is 1980-2018, which includes operating, under construction, in planning, and announced projects.
- Desalination systems include systems deployed in the municipal, industrial, and agricultural sectors and subsectors (e.g. power generation, oil & gas, mining, food & beverage).
Eskom Challenged on Water-Energy Tightrope
On 18 September 2013, South African state utility Eskom reaffirmed delays to the construction of the 4.8 GW Medupi coal power station located in the Waterberg district of Limpopo province, moving its deadline from December 2013 to second half of 2014 for commissioning the first turbine units. The plant already missed several key milestones in 2011-2012 due to labor unrest, faulty welding, and systems defects for controls and instrumentation and is facing additional water supply constraints from the outset.
Eskom received a US$3.75 billion loan from the World Bank in April 2010, contingent on its inclusion of Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) to comply with the lender´s environmental standards. Medupi is projected to consume nearly 25 million m3 of water annually when fully on-line with FGD. Eskom has sought to postpone FGD installation due to water shortages.
IWPs Eyeing Chile Desalination Sector
On 3 October 2013, Chile-based AES Gener announced plans to issue debt to support increased investment in its core power business activities and an expansion into water desalination. AES Gener, an IPP, 71% owned by US-based AES Corporation with a presence in Chile, Argentina, and Colombia, is the largest thermal generator and second largest electricity generator in Chile, operating 21% of the country’s total generating capacity with 2,858 MW thermal and 271 MW hydro power.
Earlier in the year, on 26 July 2013, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto announced a US$3 billion investment for the construction of a 216,000 m3/d desalination plant to serve the Escondida, Chile copper mine expansion. The Escondida mine will be the first to have 100% of its water needs met through desalination. Construction is expected to begin in 2013 and conclude in 2017. Doosan has been contracted to construct the plant and Degrémont provided Escondida’s first desalination system (45,360 m3/d) that went online in 2012. Both the desalination plant and mine are owned and operated by BHP Billiton (57.4%), Rio Tinto (30%), and JECO Corporation (10%). Escondida, located southeast of Antofagasta at 3,100 meters above sea level, is the largest copper mine in Chile.
Arab Spring Reality Reflected in Water Buildout
On 20 August 2013 Jordan’s Cabinet announced it would move ahead with the US$980M Red Sea desalination project. The government intends to float a tender before the end of 2013 to initiate project development, which is to provide with approximately 550,000 m3/d of desalinated water. Included in the project scope will be to transfer the water to Israel to defray some of the project costs and to discharge brine into the Dead Sea. It is expected that the project will be organized on a BOT or BOO basis. The Jordan government expects to secure US$300-400 million in grants to finance the project.
SWRO Retrofit Underscores Opportunity for ERD Suppliers
In July 2013, Energy Recovery, Inc. of San Leandro, U.S. announced a contract with Cadagua S.A. of Bilbao, Spain to supply ERI’s isobaric PX Pressure Exchangers for Phase I of the retrofit to the Valdelentisco SWRO plant in Murcia, Spain. Cadagua, an EPC and O&M firm with a global SWRO portfolio of nearly 800,000 m3/d, provides O&M services to the Valdelentisco plant. Valdelentisco, with a nominal capacity of approximately 140,000 m3/d, was outfitted with turbine ERD at the time of its commissioning in 2007. The value of the ERI-Cadagua contract was undisclosed.
Manila Water Diversifies Southeast Asia Position
On 21 August 2013, Manila Water acquired a 31.46% stake in Vietnam water utility SWIC. The deal needs to be ratified by SWIC within 105 days. SWIC, formerly Saigon Infrastructure Real Estate Investment Joint Stock Company, shifted its focus in 2011 toward integrated water and wastewater treatment services.
MWC’s parent company is owned by Philippine-based Ayala Group (32%), First State Investment Ltd. (9.7%), Mitsubishi Corporation (8.3%), and the International Finance Corporation (6%). MWC was incorporated on 1997, commenced operations in 2000 and became a publicly listed company in March 2005.
