Engie reaches commercial close on Jubail 3B IWP

Engie reaches commercial close on Jubail 3B IWP

Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), in association with a consortium comprising the France-headquartered Engie (40 percent), Saudi-based Nesma Company Limited (30 percent) and Abdulaziz Al-Ajlan Sons for Commercial and Real Estate Investment Company (30 percent), has achieved commercial close on the Jubail 3B independent water project (IWP). Following the April 29 announcement by SWPC naming the Engie-led consortium as preferred bidder, a 25-year water purchase agreement between SWPC and the Engie-Nesma-Ajlan consortium was signed on June 22 in the presence of Abdulrahman Al-Fadli, chairman of the board of SWPC and minister of environment, water and agriculture. Located 65 km north of Dammam airport, the Jubail 3B IWP plant will produce 570,000 m3/day of potable water through reverse osmosis technology to supply the cities of Jubail and Dammam. The plant will include storage facilities for one operational day in addition to in-house renewable energy capacity to reduce grid electricity consumption throughout the desalination process. The project is part of the water schemes in Saudi Arabia developed under the public-private-partnership (PPP) structure. The consortium will develop and finance the desalination plant, which will be operated and maintained by Engie. The Jubail 3B project was awarded by SWPC as a build, own, operate