TYPSA has been awarded the contract to review the detailed design and supervise the construction works of the desalination plant in Al Khafji, in Saudi Arabia, including the photovoltaic plant to power it. The facility, developed by Advanced Water Technology, is the first desalination plant in the world to be powered by solar energy and is a milestone in the quest for sustainable solutions in the field of water management.
Located on the shores of the Arabian Gulf, it is just a few kilometres from the border with Kuwait and is designed to produce 60,000 m3/day of desalinated seawater using a reverse osmosis process, to supply the town of Al-Khafji. A 20 MW photovoltaic plant will be built about 2 km from the desalination plant on a 90 ha site, making this the world’s first large-scale desalination plant powered autonomously by solar energy.
The plant design, construction and commissioning works are expected to last twenty-four months, four of which will be spent on commissioning the infrastructure systems. In addition, the desalination plant will be operated by the contractor during the one-year guarantee period, effectively extending TYPSA’s commitment to a total period of thirty-six months.
