U.K. – South West Water (SWW) announced it is looking to build two new desalination plants at undisclosed locations in Cornwall’s south coast. If the plans get greenlighted, more than a third of Cornwall’s drinking would come from desalination. According to the company the region’s water sources are under persistent “immense and increasing pressure”. Currently, the U.K. has desalination plants in the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands, as well as a plant in London.
The two new plants would each have a production capacity of 60,000 m3/day. SWW hopes to have the plants operational by the summer, but acknowledges that it would be “very challenging”, both from an engineering perspective and in terms of permits, which SWW was working on with the Environment Agency and Cornwall Council. (BBC)
CHILE – The concessions office of Chile’s public works ministry (MOP) is exploring ways to address cost and energy concerns before launching its first desalination concessions, especially regarding costs and the impacts on the rates users pay. Chile is working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to plan these desalination projects, in order to address the water crisis that has been affecting the country for more than a decade.
The first planned desalination concession tender is scheduled for 2025 and it involves a $300 million plant for the Coquimbo region. A second tender would take place the following year, consisting of a $200 million plant for the O’Higgins region. (BNamericas)
NAMIBIA – Swakop Uranium has proposed to join a venture with the government of Namibia to fast track the development of a second desalination plant in the Erongo Region. Swakop Uranium stated that it lost 39 days in production time in 2022, due to unavailability of water. According to an assessment made by Swakop Uranium and supported by the Namibia Chamber of Mines (CoM) as well as the general industry in the Erongo Region, the government’s plan to build a second desalination should be fast-tracked. Swakop Uranium stated it would present an unsolicited offer as an investment to build, operate and transfer to the owners, due to the impact the water shortage has had on the company. (Economist Namibia)
The Erongo Desalination Plant in Namibia. Credit: Chamber of Mines of Namibia
INDIA – Danfoss, recently signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Madras, Technology (IIT-M), for collaborative research into reverse osmosis desalination driven by wave energy. Danfoss and IIT-M will operate a pilot desalination plant that uses ocean waves as an energy source to drive the seawater reverse osmosis process and supply water to coastal hamlets and islands. Under the Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Danfoss and IIT-M are collaborating on a R&D project to develop grid friendly Power to X (PtX) Converters suited to Indian and the global markets. (The Hindu Businessline)