Located in Valdelentisco, Murcia, in southeastern Spain, the plant has a potable and irrigation water production capacity of 140,000 m3/d, making it one of the largest desalination plants in Europe. Phase I of this new project, which involves a retrofit of two reverse osmosis trains, is one of many for Cadagua and Energy Recovery who have been working together for over a decade, having recently commissioned large plants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, including Morocco and Ajman in the UAE.Part of a larger trend to retrofit desalination plants around the world, this new project highlights the viability and sustainability of desalination as a solution to the ever growing strain on available fresh water resources. By retrofitting and upgrading with the latest in energy recovery technologies in desalination, plants and municipalities can save money and increase efficiencies. In Spain, Energy Recovery's technology has been chosen in a majority of 2012-13 retrofit operations, and has saved customers 1.5 billion kWh and more than $158 million per year. Energy Recovery says that Cadagua chose the PX technology not only because of the estimated savings per year for Phase I, but because the plant will not need to replace its existing pump system -adding to the overall increase in savings. The PX device is flexible and adaptable to variable operating conditions allowing the array to be installed with existing equipment."Even during hard economic times, we knew investing in Energy Recovery's solutions would give us the best return on our investment. The cost savings we are expecting to achieve will be vital to the plant's ability to remain online, and to the development of fresh water production for our country," exclaims Eva Muñoz, Project Manager from Cadagua.
