A seawater desalination plant which was built as a BOT (Buy Own Transfer) project, located at the Southern Industrial Zone in Ashkelon. The consortium that won the tender was a SPC called VID Desalination Co., which is a consortium of IDE Technologies Ltd. and Veolia Water S.A. The plant was commissioned in 2005, and its initial budget at that time was 200M $. The plant operates using the reverse osmosis desalination method, and upon commissioning, was the largest plant in the world using that method. It consisted of two parallel lines each producing 50 million M3 of potable water per annum. Later, the capacity was increased by 18%.
Several new technologies were introduced for the first time in the industry:Revolutionary design of a unique Pressure Centre arrangement for the RO stage.
A unique, patented membrane-based Boron Removal System, and the largest installation of an isobaric chamber DWEER (Dual Work Exchanger Energy Recovery).
The plant was awarded with several industrial awards and got numerous praises.
The project includes an IPP (independent power producer) with a capacity of 80 MW. The IPP was also built as a BOT project in order to provide the plant’s electricity. In addition, the IPP sells excess capacity to private clients via the national grid.
