Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and Umm Al Houl Power Company on Monday signed an agreement to increase water desalination capacity by 61.5 million gallons per day (about 280,000 cubic metres), which enhances Kahramaa’s capabilities for a sustainable supply of high-quality water and electricity in Qatar.
The agreement was signed by Kahramaa President Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari, and Umm Al Houl Power Chairman Fahad Hamad Al Muhannadi, in the presence of Minister of State for Energy Affairs and Qatar Petroleum President and CEO H E Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi. Under the agreement, Umm Al Houl will build and operate an expansion to the existing plant that would raise its overall capacity to 198 million gallons of water per day by 2021.
Al Kaabi said, “This agreement is a continuation of Kahramaa’s efforts to secure the country’s water and electricity needs in support of the growth of the national economy and the requirements of the comprehensive and sustainable development witnessed by Qatar. This also comes as an affirmation of our environmental commitment to using state-of-the-art desalination technology such as reverse osmosis.” Reverse osmosis technology will improve production efficiency and reduce the use of gas.
Umm Al Houl Power will act as project’s developer, while Samsung will be the main contractor and Acciona the supplier and sub-contractor.
The Umm Al Houl plant generates 2,520MW of electricity and 136.5 million gallons of drinking water per day, 60 million of which is desalinated using reverse osmosis and 76.5 million using multiple-stage flash technology. The plant is considered ne of the largest in the Middle East. It provides 30 per cent of Qatar’s electricity needs and 40 per cent of its water needs.