The Moroccan Minister of Agriculture visits the Agadir desalination plant

February 18, 2021

• It is the largest desalination plant designed for drinking water and irrigation.
• It will have the capacity to produce 275,000 m³/d of desalinated water.

February, 18^th 2021 – Abengoa (MCE: ABG/P:SM), the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, energy and water sectors, has received this week, on February 16, the visit of the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, Sea Fishing, Rural Development and Water and Forests Aziz Akhannouch at the desalination plant with reverse osmosis technology that the company is developing in the Moroccan region of Agadir. This plant, with a capacity to produce 275,000 m³/d of desalinated water, is considered the largest designed for drinking water and irrigation.

During the visit, the good progress of the project being built by Abengoa was verified, and it has exceeded, on the one hand, 85% of the construction of the desalination plant and, on the other, 56% of the irrigation network.

This visit has been organized to monitor the projects launched within the framework of the Maroc Vert Plan 2020-2030, promoted by the Agriculture, Sea Fishing, Rural Development and Water and Forests Ministry of Morocco, in order to consolidate all the goals achieved in the last Green Morocco Plan, and which has as objective the modernization of the agricultural sector in the country.

Desalination plant and irrigation network.

The public-private partnership contract for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance for a period of 30 years (including construction) was awarded to Abengoa in 2017, obtaining in April 2018 the financial closing.

This is a single project for the two clients (the Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Sea Fishing, Rural Development and Water and Forests of Morocco) which has been created from the mutualization of two projects. The first one requires a 50% expansion of production capacity under the contract that Abengoa has been developing for ONEE, thereby increasing the plant capacity to 150,000 m³/d of drinking water. And the second project calls for the additional production of 125,000 m³/d of irrigation water as well as the construction of the corresponding irrigation network for a total of 13,600 ha, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Abengoa is a leading company in the international desalination market, with an installed capacity of 1.7 million m³/d, which will increase to 4.3 million when the portfolio is completed. Among its projects in execution, in addition to Agadir, Abengoa is executing the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world, located in the Taweelah power and water generation complex, in the United Arab Emirates, with a production capacity of 909,000 m³/d. On the other hand, the Shuaibah desalination plant in Saudi Arabia has recently completed, with a capacity of 250,000 m³/d, and was officially inaugurated in July 2019, just 21 months after the start of construction works, becoming it a milestone in the sector given the characteristics and size of this plant.

Picture of Agadir’s desalination plant

Click here to download in HD.

About Abengoa

Abengoa (MCE: ABG/P:SM) applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, energy and water sectors. (www.abengoa.com)

Communication Department:

Marián Ariza

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

E-mail: communication@abengoa.com

Investor Relations & Capital Markets:

Gonzalo Zubiría

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

E-mail: ir@abengoa.com

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