Israeli water and environment specialist GES has doubled the size of its seawater desalination portfolio and is looking to build up the business overseas after securing the contract to take over and regenerate the ill-fated Ashdod desalination plant. Late last month the company, as part of a 46∶54 partnership with Shafir, paid NIS909 million ($282 million) to state water company Mekorot to take over ownership and operation of the 100 MCM/yr (274,000m~3/d) facility until 2038. Ashdod was developed by Mekorot following concerns that too much of Israel's strategically important seawater desalination supply Was owned by the private sector. In 2011 the development wing of Mekorot awarded a construction contract to a Sadyt/Minrav team. However, the construction and commissioning of the plant faced a litany of problems - initial production did not begin until late 2015, two years later than scheduled, and the plant struggled to reach its planned operating capacity in the years following that.
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