International engineering and consulting firm ILF has been brought in to oversee the implementation of a Red Sea Global carbon-neutral utility system. The developer of the $1.5bn (SAR5.63bn) utility system is a consortium made up of SPIC Huanghe Hydropower Development Company and Saudi Tabreed Cooling Company and led by Tadawul-listed ACWA Power as part of a signed 25-year agreement that stipulates the building, owning, operation, and transfer of the project.
Designed to be powered by solar panels affording 340 MWac, an internal combustion engine of 108.98 MW capacity, and a massive Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) plant for an approximate output of 1,200 GWh, which is expandable through further development, the multi-utility company will be able to deliver clean power, water, treat wastewater, provide cooling via district plants; and handle the municipal solid waste with no landfill at site for the giga-project’s first phase hotels, international airport and infrastructure.
In addition to leading the construction, engineering, operations, and maintenance of the plant, ACWA Power’s contract also necessitates the provision of three seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants transferring up to 32,500 cubic meters of clean drinking water per day, featuring a waste management centre and an innovative sewage treatment plant.
The utilities concession agreement came as a result of ILF Consulting Engineers’ role as technical advisor during the tendering stage of the Public-private partnership scheme. The Austria-born group has made its presence in the region developing and delivering energy, climate protection, industrial, water and environment projects, including the finished Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, and the recently-awarded design of the world’s largest solar PV parks in Saudi Arabia.
