Approximately 60% of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s water comes from desalination currently – which consumes roughly 20% of the country’s energy usage – and demand is continuously rising. With the decoupling of power and desalination plants, it is now more necessary than ever to make desalination facilities energy efficient, and the government has directed water producers to decrease energy consumption as much as possible.
As one of the biggest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination facilities in the world, ACWA Power Rabigh 3 IWP was designed to address the growing demand for water while also keeping energy consumption low.
By utilizing efficient solutions throughout the facility, the designers and engineers were able to reach their goal of reducing power consumption to under 3.2 kWh/m3. Energy Recovery’s PX devices were a key component in achieving the stated goal and, on an annual basis, will save ACWA Power Rabigh 3 IWP approximately 500 GWh each year.
