Introduction
The Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas is an irrigation community in southeastern Spain that operates its own seawater desalination plant to supply water for local agriculture. Already a leader in renewable energy, with a floating solar array powering part of its operations the community turned to Energy Recovery to take the next step in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. By retrofitting 2 trains with the PX Q400, the plant is now saving an estimated 1.8 million kWh/year.
Location
Águilas, Murcia,
Spain
Project
Aguilas Irrigation Plant
Operator
Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas
Configuration
2 trains retrofitted with PX Q400
Retrofit Installation
December 2025
Plant Capacity
20,000 m³/day
Estimated Energy Savings
1.8 million kWh/year
Estimated Cost Savings
$178,000 USD/year
The Challenge
Getting More from Every Kilowatt in a Water-Scarce Region
The Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas was one of the first irrigation communities in Spain to invest in its own desalination. The plant, originally completed around 2003, was built to give local farmers an independent water source in a region where rainfall averages just 365 mm per year and groundwater reserves have been overexploited. The Segura River basin, where Águilas is located, has a structural water deficit and irrigated agriculture accounts for roughly 85% of total water consumption.
The community has already invested heavily in sustainability. A 786 kW floating photovoltaic array installed on the irrigation pond powers pumping operations and part of the desalination process, and additional ground-mounted solar capacity supplements the plant’s energy needs. This action was part of a project for the improvement of energy efficiency and generation of renewable energy, drawn up by the consultancy Zenit Ingeniería y Servicios Técnicos SL, which has been subsidized by the European Union within the Rural Development Program of the Region of Murcia 2014-2022 (EAFRD funds). For a facility where every euro per cubic meter matters to the farmers who pay for the water, improving the efficiency of the RO process itself was the logical next step.
The Solution
PX® Pressure Exchanger® Technology: Maximizing Efficiency Alongside Renewables
The Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas selected Energy Recovery’s PX Q400 Pressure Exchanger technology to replace the existing Francis turbines across the plant’s RO trains. The PX Q400 is a ceramic rotary isobaric device that recovers hydraulic energy from the high-pressure brine reject stream at up to 98% efficiency, a significant performance gain over the turbine-based technology it replaced. Designed for a 30-year service life with 99.8% uptime and no routine maintenance, it’s built to run reliably without adding to the maintenance team’s workload. For a community that had already committed to renewable energy generation, the PX retrofit addressed the other half of the equation: reducing the total energy the RO process requires in the first place.
We’ve invested in solar because we believe in running this plant as efficiently and sustainably as possible. The PX retrofit was the next logical step, it reduces the energy we need in the first place, which makes our solar investment go even further.
Pedro Gallego Gallego, President Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas
The Result
1,000 tons/year
Estimated CO2 savings
1.8 million kWh/year
Estimated energy savings
$178,000 USD/year
Estimated cost savings
Why It Matters
The Spanish government’s 2030 climate and energy transition plan puts increasing pressure on water-intensive sectors like agriculture to reduce their carbon footprint, and desalination’s energy consumption is a known liability.
The Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas’ approach, pairing solar generation with high efficiency energy recovery, directly addresses that liability. By first cutting the energy the plant consumes, and then supplying that reduced demand from renewables, the community has built a model that other agricultural operators in water-scarce regions can follow.
Looking Ahead
The Comunidad de Regantes de Águilas has built one of the most forward-thinking desalination operations in Spain’s agricultural sector. By pairing on-site solar generation with PX Pressure Exchanger technology, the community is producing desalinated water at lower cost and lower emissions than ever before.
To explore PX solutions for your desalination plant, contact our team at sales@energyrecovery.com or configure your own solution using Power Model Pro.