Japanese consortium to construct Algerian desalination power plant

Published January 7th, 2003 - 03:00 GMT

A Japanese consortium, made up of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) and Itochu Corporation, will provide Algeria with its first large-scale water desalination and power generation plant, under a recently signed 40 billion yen ($333.8 million) Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) contract with the Kahrama SpA company.

The turnkey project is also Algeria’s first non-recourse project-financed facility. It will see the construction of a 320,000-kilowatt natural gas power generation facility and a 88,000 cubic meter per day water desalination facility, in the Arzew industrial district, west of Algiers. The combined cycle plant is set for completion by mid-2005,

This is the first independent water and power project (IWPP) undertaken by Kahrama, an 80/20 joint venture formed in January 2002 between US-based engineering and construction firm Black & Veatch Africa (BVA) and the Algerian Energy Company (AEC), in itself a state-owned 50/50 joint venture between Algerian electricity utility Sonelgaz and the national oil and gas company Sonatrach.

Kahrama signed a 25-year Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA) with Sonelgaz, which will deliver the gas and take the power, and a Water Purchase Agreement (WPA) with Sonatrach. — (menareport.com)