IRAN – A joint venture consisting of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Japan have signed an agreement to build a desalination plant in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. The plant will supply water to 50,000 people in Chabahar’s rural regions, including Komb, Ramin, Osmanabad and Balesar. (Financial Tribune)
CANADA – Oneka Technologies is working with Canada’s Ocean Supercluster on a new project to scale up the company’s wave energy-driven desalination technology to utility scale. The $10.3 million Oneka Glacier Project will see Oneka Technologies working with project partner AF Theriault, which will support the manufacturing of the hull and structure of the Glacier system. H20 Innovation will provide the process plant for the desalination portion of the Glacier technology, while the City of Barrington in Nova Scotia, will provide a coastal site for buoy installation at Cape Sable Island. Ocean Supercluster will provide $4.9 million in funding. (Offshore Energy)
TUNISIA – The government of Tunisia is planning to build a seawater desalination plant in Sidi Makhlouf in Medenine and is also looking to extend the desalination plant in Djerba. This was revealed in the government’s 2023-2025 Development Plan which aims to establish a new development model capable of creating wealth and consolidating social inclusion while allowing the country to keep up with global changes. (Zawya)
EGYPT – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are collaborating with The Sovereign Fund of Egypt for Investment and Development (TSFE) to structure and implement public-private partnership (PPP) for four seawater desalination projects. Egypt is planning to implement a total desalination capacity of 8.8 million m3/day by 2050 and to transition coastal areas to desalinated water as their primary water source. (Zawya)
A beach in Cornwall, U.K. Credit: New Civil Engineer
U.K. – South West Water (SWW) has revealed the potential coastal sites for Cornwall’s new desalination plants. According to the company’s draft Water Resource Management Plan, it is exploring potential plants near the seaside village of Polkerris and in Par, a working port 3km along the coast. SWW is working with Cornwall Council and the Environment Agency to have the plants running by the end of summer. The company stated that no formal announcement had yet been made on the location, but it is expecting to agree one “very quickly”.
According to Tim Naughton, co-founder of Salinity Solutions, the short timeframe makes it unlikely that SWW is building a permanent plant. Instead, it would likely be a containerized system, built offsite and transported to the coast to “plug and play”. Naughton states that this option is mobile and doesn’t require any civil engineering or planning permission. (New Civil Engineer)