Binningup’s Desalination Plant, also known as the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant (SSDP), is one of our flagships – and with good reason. Green solutions, state-of-the-art technology and integral innovation come together in a project that allows us to produce up to 306.000 m3/day of drinking water and supply around 2 million inhabitants in Western Australia.
Through an alliance contract, we guarantee a close cooperation with our client, Water Corporaton of Western Australia, to achieve best-in-class results in all the project’s stages, from its design and construction to the operation. In total, the contract has reached an amount of € 1.1 billion in two phases: a first phase that concluded in 2011 (750 million euros), and a second phase finalized in 2013 (350 million euros), in which the infrastructure’s capacity was duplicated.
10 years and numerous international awards later, –including the “Desalination Plant of the Year”, granted in the 2012 Global Water Awards–, the plant has become a worldwide benchmark thanks to 3 key aspects: its sustainable solutions, its innovative features, and its positive social impact.
Integrating sustainable principles has always been one of the SSPD’s main objectives, which has been developed through the enhancement of renewable energies, the mitigation of our impact in the environment and the protection of local species. Powered by wind and solar energy, the plant has one of the lowest energy consumptions in the world (with values below 2.2 Kw-h/m3) and it is perfectly integrated in its surroundings thanks to a wide range of environmental actions. Among these, the following can be mentioned: the revegetation of the area with local plants, the implementation of a ‘zero chemicals’ policy in the pre-treatment, the realization of non-invasive marine works through microtunneling to reduce the impact on the protected ecosystems, and the creation of a natural corridor to avoid the obstruction of the possums’ transit area.
In terms of innovation, Binningup’s Desalination Plant is at the forefront of the field. The plant incorporates state-of-the-art technologies to optimize its activity and reach its highest functionality, while also keeping a focus on digitalization, employees’ security, and operations’ sustainability. The implementations carried out include the establishment of cross-connections of the filtered water tanks and the remineralization systems, as well as the evaluation of techniques and cleaning procedures.
On a social sphere, on account of the integration activities and the collaboration with neighbourhood associations, we have reached a significant involvement of the local communities, which guarantees the preservation of the area’s cultural and aboriginal heritage. In addition to this, the creation of 700 jobs throughout the development of the project must be highlighted, as well as the value generated by the supply and production of desalinated water in the area.
We thus celebrate a decade in which we have become a benchmark in service and water quality for Australia’s inhabitants.