Acciona ventures get desalination contracts

Spain's Acciona said today two of its joint ventures have made deals for desalination plants in Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.

Acciona said its water division Acciona Agua signed a contract to build a $184.9 million plant in Algeria with Canada's Lavalin and the state-run Algerian Energy Co.

The company expects construction to start by the end of this year and be completed in 2010.

The venture will also operate the facility for 25 years in a deal worth a total of $799.9 million.

Acciona said 80-percent of the deal is being financed by Algeria's Credit Populaire, with the remaining 20-percent provided by the joint venture.

In the United Arab Emirates, Acciona said it plans to build a desalination plant and operate it for 10 years in a joint deal with local partners.

The plant will be located in Umm Al-Quwain.

Financial terms of that deal were not disclosed.

Austria's Aqua Engineering also made a deal in the UAE today.

It will lead a consortium to build a $121 million desalination plant in Sharjah (see Aqua Engineering to build plant in UAE).

Last week, Acciona closed $266 million in long-term financing for its solar unit (see Acciona gets long-term solar financing).

The funding is for its 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One project, set to be the largest solar power plant built in the world in 16 years.

And in June, the company said it made deals to develop 1,300 megawatts of wind assets in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin (see Acciona wins 1,300 MW in new U.S. projects).

Acciona said it would supply its own wind turbines for the development projects from its new U.S. production facility in Iowa.

One of Spain's largest contractors, Acciona, with 30,000 employees, operates in infrastructure, real estate, logistics, urban and environmental services, energy, and water.

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