Desalination & Reuse Handbook - Flipbook - Page 29
DESALINATION MARKET PROFILE
The Asia-Pacific desalination market grew in 2017, mostly due to the Chinese market, where contracted capacity reached its highest
level since 2010. Compared to the seawater-dominated Middle Eastern market, around two thirds of awarded Chinese capacity will treat
wastewater or lower-concentration feeds. This includes two 100,000 m3/d water treatment plants using nanofiltration (NF) technology
in Beijing and Jiangsu Province. There was also growth in seawater awards, dominated by a 100,000 m3/d municipal project awarded
to Safbon at Yingkou, Liaoning Province, and a 100,000 m3/d industrial RO/MED project awarded to Shanghai Electric in Hebei
Province. In India, new environmental regulations and increasing rates of enforcement are driving rapid growth in industrial wastewater
treatment. Contracted wastewater treatment capacity using desalination technologies stood at 97,000 m3/d in 2017, the entirety of which
was awarded by industrial clients, almost double the Indian advanced wastewater treatment market’s previous high of 51,000 m3/d
in 2007. This capacity is continuing to grow, with 60,000 m3/d in advanced wastewater treatment capacity contracted in the first half
of 2018 and more wastewater reuse awards likely by the end of the year. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, several reverse osmosis
projects facilitating industrial reuse of municipal wastewater are under procurement in Taiwan, with a 33,000 m3/d wastewater reuse
plant in Kaohsiung awarded in September 2018.
2018 is already the most active year for desalination in the Americas since 2013, almost entirely due to progress on delayed or frozen
projects in Mexico and Chile. The 378,000 m3/d Rosarito project and 21,600 m3/d San Quintin project in Mexico reached financial close
in the first half of 2018, both following two years of negotiations. The Consolidated Water-led consortium that is developing the Rosarito
project has awarded the EPC contract to Suez. Meanwhile, the recovery in commodity prices has led to the revival of several delayed or
mothballed projects in the Chilean mining sector, where regulations are soon to come into force that will force mining companies to
drastically increase their use of desalted seawater. The US market grew slightly in 2017 with new small- to medium-sized brackish and
low-concentration capacity remaining stable at around 90,000 m3/d. A 39,000 m3/d wastewater treatment facility awarded to Suez
Water Technologies & Solutions by an un-named electronics client is the largest US award so far in 2018.
Annual contracted seawater desalination capacity by region, 2000–2018
3.5
Capacity millions (m3/d)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
2000
2002
Americas
2004
2006
East Asia / Pacific
2008
2010
Gulf
2012
2014
MENA (excl. GULF)
2016
2018*
Rest of world
Source: GWI DesalData / IDA
*Values through June 2018
2017–2018 was also an interesting year for seawater desalination in Sub-Saharan Africa. Late 2017 saw a number of desalination projects
tabled in Cape Town in an attempt to avert ‘Day Zero’, when water reserves were projected to run out. In the end just three projects
with a combined capacity of 16,000 m3/d were carried to completion, none of which were commissioned before March 2018 – just
weeks before Day Zero was officially postponed to 2019. By August 2018 demand management measures had achieved water savings of
around 450,000 m3/d compared to February 2017 levels, meaning that large-scale desalination is unlikely to go ahead in the short-term.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Mombasa County awarded two projects of 100,000 m3/d and 30,000 m3/d at Mombasa and Likoni respectively.
Mombasa’s desalination demand is driven by a lack of local water resources and devolution of water supply down to the county
administrative level – other areas of the country do not face the same issues, meaning that Kenya is unlikely to need additional capacity
in the near future.
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