Israel on Wednesday launched a tender for the construction of one of the world’s largest seawater desalination plants, with a planned annual production capacity of 400 million cubic meters of desalinated water.
The plant’s annual output would equal about 40% of Israel’s annual freshwater consumption by households and industry, according to the Accountant General’s Division.
Water Authority Director Yehezkel Lipshitz described the project as “great news for the water sector and the citizens of Israel.”
He said the facility would provide “a forward-looking response” to the needs of Israel’s growing population, agriculture and industry, while maintaining high environmental and technological standards.
The plant is planned for an area of about 20 hectares in the Emek Hefer Industrial Zone in central Israel, near the coastal city of Netanya.
An infrastructure plan being advanced by the government will support the facility’s seawater intake, desalination and water-treatment systems and connect the plant to Israel’s national water network.
The tender documents may also include an option to establish a conventional natural gas-powered power plant of up to 300 megawatts to generate electricity for the desalination facility, the Finance Ministry said.
A private concessionaire is expected to operate and maintain the facility for 25 years under a public-private partnership arrangement.
Finance Ministry Accountant General Michal Abadi-Boyanjo called the project “another significant step” in a series of desalination plants promoted through the public-private partnership model, saying previous projects had “brought about a real revolution in the water sector.”
“As climate change contributes to declining precipitation while demand for water continues to rise, the construction of the desalination plant in Emek Hefer constitutes a central pillar” of Israel’s long-term efforts to ensure a reliable water supply, she said.
The project could also support the Prosperity Blue initiative, a proposed water-for-energy arrangement between Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Under the proposal, Israel would supply Jordan with up to 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually in exchange for renewable electricity generated in Jordan. The UAE is a partner in the initiative.
The world’s largest desalination plant by capacity is Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia, which can produce about 1.036 million cubic meters of water per day. The plant uses a combination of reverse-osmosis and thermal desalination technologies.
