GDF Suez starts Saudi water, power plant
Published: Oct. 27, 2009 at 11:36 AM
www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2009/10/27/GDF-Suez-starts-Saudi-water-power-plant/UPI-39061256657818/

JUBAIL, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- GDF Suez launched commercial
operations Tuesday at the first units of a power and desalination project in
Saudi Arabia, the largest in the world.

The $3.4 billion Marafiq Independent Water and Power Project has a design
capacity to deliver 2,750 megawatts of power and desalinize more than 200
million gallons of seawater per day.

GDF Suez, the French energy company, said the water output from the plant is
enough to meet the daily demands of 5.5 million people. The power supply
represents 10 percent of the Saudi Arabian energy capacity.

Construction at the water and power plant started in April 2007. The
purchase of water and energy output from the facility is guaranteed under a
20-year purchase agreement.

Industrial and non-industrial customers from the Jubail industrial city and
Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia get their water and power from the plant.
GDF Suez said the facility would be fully operational by 2010.