Qatar opens a new water expansion project

Qatar’s Umm Al Houl Power Company opened a water expansion project that will provide 30 percent of the country's electric energy needs, and 40 percent of its desalinated water needs which means producing 2,520 megawatts of electricity and 197.9 million gallons per day of desalinated water, said the company in a statement.

“The completion of the project constitutes a quantum leap towards achieving self-sufficiency in the production of electricity and water, and enhances the efficiency of national companies in building capacities and achieving the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030 for building a prosperous and sustainable economy,” said the company in a statement.

The company said that the expansion will increase the production capacity of desalinated water by 61.4 million gallons per day, which raises the water production capacity in Umm Al Houl Power Station to 197.9 million gallons per day.

“The project’s use of seawater from the current power plant’s cooling system as a provider for the expansion project is one of the unique design concepts for this project, which has eliminated the need to build a new seawater extracting facility, which helped reduce capital costs, reduce energy consumption, and increase maximum efficiency, thus reducing the cost of treated water by more than 25 percent,” said the company.

The project is part of  Qatar National Vision 2030 to preserve the environment to reduce carbon emissions. It was implemented by Samsung and Acciona.