IDE Technologies signs contract with Water- en Energiebedrijf Bonaire N.V. (WEB) and will provide state-of-the-art PROGREEN desalination plant
Groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Hato desalination plant in Bonaire sees IDE and WEB deepening 30+ year relationship to provide desalinated drinking water to Bonaire’s residents
IDE Technologies, a world leader in desalination and water treatment solutions, today announced it has been awarded the contract to design and build an IDE PROGREEN™ Chemical-Free Desalination Plant on the island of Bonaire by Water- en Energiebedrijf Bonaire N.V. (WEB). The project builds off the success of more than 30 years of business between the two companies, with the latest expansion in the partnership seeing IDE Technologies providing desalinated water via its chemical-free desalination technology.
The construction of the new reverse osmosis (RO) plant in Hato will bring Bonaire one step closer to producing all of its own drinking water. The new facility will produce up to 5,600 m3/d of drinking water with IDE’s proprietary RO process that operates without the use of chemicals. In combination with the output of an existing facility that processes 1,600 m3/d of seawater, the new IDE plant will meet the demands of Bonaire’s nearly 22,500 inhabitants.
“We are uniquely positioned to help WEB secure Bonaire’s water future,” said Gilad Cohen, CEO of IDE Americas. “Since 1986, our two companies have worked to ensure that the residents of Bonaire have had access to drinking water. With our latest advances in reverse osmosis technology, we look forward to assisting WEB as they deliver on their plan and showcasing to other islands how IDE delivers sustainable and environmentally-conscious desalination solutions.”
The new project, formally awarded on November 4, 2019, will harness some of IDE’s most powerful technologies, and will deliver a first class turnkey desalination plant including the pre-treatment stage, seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) and second pass brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) stage and ancillary systems and components that will tie into WEB’s existing post-treatment.
“Numerous suppliers expressed their interest in providing the water plant for WEB, and after an intensive, transparent evaluation process, the supplier IDE was chosen,” said Alfredo Koolman, CEO of WEB. “As a world leader in water treatment solutions, IDE specializes in the development, engineering, construction and operation of advanced desalination and industrial water treatment plants. They have extensive knowledge of building and maintaining desalination plants all over the world, including the islands of the Dutch Caribbean region.”
To date, IDE has supplied WEB three thermal desalination plants: two mechanical vapor compression (MVC) plants of 750 m3/d in 1986 and one multi-effect distillation (MED) plant of 1,200 m3/d in 1988. The plants were operational until 2014, at which time they were decommissioned and replaced a by SWRO producing 4,000 m3/day by means of a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) contract with a third party. IDE has a strong presence in the Caribbean with more than 35 desalination plants throughout the region.
WEB was founded in 1963 and is owned by the Public Entity of Bonaire (Openbaar Lichaam Bonaire). As an ‘exclusive’ multi-utility company, WEB is responsible for the sustainable, reliable and affordable supply of drinking water and electricity to over 17,000 households, companies and organizations on Bonaire.
The construction of the plant is expected to be completed in July 2021.
